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Nov. 1, 2006 -- The popular migraine medicine Topamax increases the risk of kidney stones, reports a team of researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) in Dallas.
Their study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, confirms what doctors have suspected and what was found in clinical trials of the medication.
But the study adds crucial details, says researcher Dion Graybeal, MD, an assistant professor of neurology at UTSW. "The data out there was pretty poor in terms of what the exact evidence was [of a Topamax-kidney stone link]," Graybeal tells WebMD.
Topamax (topiramate) has become one of the most commonly prescribed medications for migraine, Graybeal says, since it was approved for migraines by the FDA in 2004. It was originally approved in 1995 as an antiseizure medication. Since then, more than 4 million patients worldwide have taken it, according to Ortho-McNeil Neurologics in Titusville, N.J., the drug's maker. Ortho-McNeil is a WebMD sponsor.
About 28 million Americans suffer from migraine, Graybeal says. Topamax works by stabilizing the brain's neurons, he says, but it also has an effect on the kidneys.
Study Results
To find out how the urine of those on Topamax changes, the researchers compared 32 men and women already being treated with topiramate for migraines with 50 healthy volunteers who did not have migraine and were not on topiramate. "Patients already on topiramate had been on it for months to years, at a variety of doses -- from 25 milligrams a day to up to about 300," Graybeal tells WebMD.
They did a 24-hour urine collection and found that those on the medication had low excretions of a substance called urinary citrate, which helps inhibit stone formation, and higher pH of their urine, which boosts kidney stone risk. Participants on the medication excreted only a third of the urinary citrate as those not on the medication.
Graybeal's team also looked at seven other patients before and at least three months after taking the medication at doses of 50 to 200 milligrams a day, and found the same changes to a greater degree.
One of the 32 patients on topiramate in the first study got a kidney stone, Graybeal says.