Table 1.

Recommendations for future research proposed by Nicolai and colleagues [19].

1. Studies should be prospective and longitudinal.

2. Women should be included in the study before conception.

3. Compliance should be monitored throughout pregnancy and dose changes should be monitored.

4. Serum levels should be monitored.

5. Maternal use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs should be recorded.

6. Use of folic acid should be recorded.

7. Each hospital visit and injury should be recorded.

8. Seizure diaries should be kept.

9. Mothers with seizures during pregnancy should not be excluded.

10. Subjects should be recruited by random population-based selection through pregnancy registers.

11. Monotherapy or specific polytherapy combinations should be included.

12. Mothers with medical complications and children who develop epilepsy should be excluded.

13. Comparisons across AED types should be made rather than in comparison to a general population control group.

14. Information on parental IQ and educational level should be collected.

15. Outcomes with sufficient psychometrics should be used.