Investigation of the effect of anti-epileptic drugs on bone metabolism using osteoprotegerin and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase: The direct effects of antiepileptic drugs on bone metabolism

Abstract

Background/Aim: Anti-epileptic drugs are long-term medications; thus, side-effects are frequently seen. An important but insufficiently known side-effect is the emergence of metabolic bone diseases. The mechanism of this entity is not clearly known, but it is usually seen with the use of cytochrome P450 enzyme-inducing anti-epileptics. However, recent studies demonstrated that non-enzyme-inducing molecules also cause bone mineral impairment. The aim of this study was to shed light on the pathogenesis of anti-epileptic metabolic bone disease using bone turnover markers. Methods: This comparative, prospective case-control study included 37 patients followed-up in our outpatient clinic and 39 healthy control subjects. All the patients were female, aged over 18 years and in the premenopausal period, and had received the same anti-epileptic treatment for at least 3 months. Male patients, females who were