Changes of Body Weight and Lipid Profiles According to Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism in Children with Antiepileptics

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Weight changes, especially weight gain, is a side effect of antiepileptics(especially valproate and carbamazepine). This may be sufficiently severe to cause noncompliance or to require the withdrawal of effective treatment. Unfortunately, the exact mechanism of weight change is not illustrated. Several reports and our experiment suggested that weight gain highly correlated with a familial tendency of obesity. The genetic makeup is a possible factor among those of the factors that influence the impact of obesity on lipid metabolism. The purpose of this prospective, random trial clinical study was to evaluate the coherence between the changes of weight and lipid profiles and apolipoprotein E polymorphism in children with antiepileptics. METHODS: We studied 60 epileptic children treated with antiepileptics. We measured the body mass index and lipid profilestotal cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. Changes of appetite and family histories of obesity were examined. The apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms of the patients were analyzed by the amplification refractory mutation system method. RESULTS: The body mass indexes of patient were significantly increased in all patient groups. The epileptic children who had E4 genotype showed higher frequencies of hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, and decreased level of HDL-cholesterol than other types. There was no significant difference between Apo E subtype with family histories of obesity and body mass index. CONCLUSION: An association with Apo E4 genotype and changes of serum lipid were demonstrated significantly in children on antiepileptics. But there was no significant difference between Apo E subtype and body mass index.