Authors
Mostafa Salama, Elsie Touma, Doha Hassan, Lily Wong-Kisiel, Gesina Keating, Seema Kumar
Published in
Childhood obesity (Print). Pages 21532176261461791. Jun 27, 2026. Epub Jun 27, 2026.
Abstract
To examine changes in weight status after initiating zonisamide in children with epilepsy and elevated body mass index (BMI).
Retrospective chart review of children aged 2 to ≤18 years with epilepsy treated with zonisamide, assessing BMI changes over 2 years.
A total of 140 children were included; mean age (SD) at initiation was 9.60 years (3.93). BMI categories included 28 children with severe obesity, 28 with mild-moderate obesity, 28 with overweight, and 56 with healthy weight. Participants were 56.6% female, 91.4% non-Hispanic/Latino, and 88.6% White. At 2 years, BMI z score decreased significantly across all BMI groups: severe obesity -0.38 (N = 13, 95% CI -0.64 to -0.13; p = 0.003), mild-moderate obesity -0.39 (N = 15, 95% CI -0.62 to -0.16; p = 0.001), overweight -0.60 (N = 14, 95% CI -0.84 to -0.36; p < 0.001), and healthy weight -0.46 (N = 21, 95% CI -0.63 to -0.28; p < 0.001). Significant BMI z score reductions were also observed across age groups: 2-10 years -0.48 (N = 40, 95% CI -0.62 to -0.34), >10-13 years -0.27 (N = 15, 95% CI -0.50 to -0.04), and ≥13 years -0.63 (N = 12, 95% CI 0.89 to -0.36).
BMI reduction persisted up to 2 years following zonisamide initiation in children with epilepsy. Further prospective studies are needed to evaluate the weight loss effect and safety of zonisamide in children with epilepsy and elevated BMI.
PMID:
42363812
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Jun 2026.
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