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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.

Sec. Neuropharmacology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1685289

Evaluating the Risk of Osteopenia-Related Adverse Events with Antiepileptic Drugs: A Pharmacovigilance Study Based on the FAERS Database

Provisionally accepted
Nan  YangNan Yang1Xiang  HanXiang Han1Hongning  HuaHongning Hua1Yumeng  WangYumeng Wang1Yulin  ChenYulin Chen1Yue  ZhouYue Zhou2Haoyu  FengHaoyu Feng1*
  • 1Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Taiyuan, China
  • 2Xinqiao Hospital ARMY Medical University, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background Controversy remains regarding the association between antiepileptic drugs and osteopenia, and this study aims to investigate and address this gap using real-world data. Materials and methods This study included data from the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) from the first quarter of 2005 to the first quarter of 2025. A disproportionate analysis method and Bonferroni-corrected p-value were used to detect association signals between antiepileptic drugs and osteopenia. Additionally, subgroup analyses were conducted to explore differences among different age and gender groups. Results Among the 206,680 adverse events associated with 12 commonly used antiepileptic drugs recorded in the FAERS database during the study period, 181 were attributable to osteopenia. Positive drug safety signals were detected for phenytoin, valproic acid, gabapentin, and eslicarbazepine. Conclusion Previous studies have only identified a link between phenytoin and osteopenia, while the relationship between valproic acid and this adverse event remains controversial, and gabapentin and eslicarbazepine have not been systematically reported. The findings provide the first evidence of an association between these four antiepileptic drugs and osteopenia, offering insights and guidance for clinical recognition and prevention of such events.

Keywords: antiepileptic drugs, osteopenia, Phenytoin, Valproic Acid, gabapentin, Eslicarbazepine

Received: 13 Aug 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Han, Hua, Wang, Chen, Zhou and Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Haoyu Feng, fenghaoyu@sxbqeh.com.cn

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