Sodium Valproate & Topiramate Monitoring
Sodium Valproate and Topiramate are medicines which have been identified by the MHRA as having potentially harmful effects to neonates if taken during pregnancy or prior to conception. These reports monitor the number of patients to whom Sodium Valproate and Topiramate has been prescribed and dispensed in order to help support the reduction of Sodium Valproate and Topiramate use among relevant groups.
Sodium Valproate
This report aims to identify the number of male and female patients, including those of child bearing age, that have received prescriptions from their GP for sodium valproate. This data will be produced every 3 months to contribute to the monitoring of effectiveness of actions to ensure safe and appropriate use of sodium valproate in Northern Ireland.
The statistics will be released on this page at 9.30am. If you have issues accessing the information it can also be found on the gov.uk site.
For more information on why this is important, particularly if you are female and taking sodium valproate, view the gov.uk toolkit on the risks of valproate medicines in female patients.
The Sodium Valproate Monitoring Dashboard, published for the first time in November 2025, presents the figures of the five indicators contained within the published tables in interactive visuals. Replacing the charts that had previously been published within this report, this interactive dashboard allows users to easily select between numerous variables in order to focus on specific areas of interest, such as age group, gender or area in each of the five indicators.
Latest Version
Date Published: 20th November 2025
Date of Next Release: February 2026
Responsible Statistician: Rob Cunningham
Email: Rob.Cunningham@hscni.net
Topiramate
This report aims to identify the number of male and female patients, including those of child bearing age, that have received prescriptions from their GP for topiramate. This data will be produced every 3 months to contribute to the monitoring of effectiveness of actions to ensure safe and appropriate use of topiramate in Northern Ireland.
The statistics will be released on this page at 9.30am. If you have issues accessing the information it can also be found on the gov.uk site.
For more information on why this is important, particularly if you are female and taking topiramate, view the gov.uk drug safety update on the risks of topiramate medicines in female patients.
Latest Version
The current publication contains a revision, following identification of an error contained in indicator 3 (rate per 1,000 population). Any tables and charts affected by this revision are denoted by (R). Users should therefore not use previous editions of this report. For more information, please see the introductory notes within the current report.
Date Published: 20th November 2025
Date of Next Release: February 2026
Responsible Statistician: Rob Cunningham
Email: Rob.Cunningham@hscni.net