Seizure control during pregnancy and postpartum period in women with epilepsy: an Egyptian prospective study

BMC Neurology

Research

Rehab Magdy¹  Manal Mahmoud Al Kattan¹  Maha A. Zaki¹  Hassan Hosny¹  Gihan M. Ramzy¹  Salsabil Abo Al-Azayem¹ 

[1] Department of Neurology, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt;

关键词: Women with epilepsy;    Seizures;    Pregnancy;    Postpartum;    Anti-seizure medications;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12883-023-03086-w

 received in 2022-07-19, accepted in 2023-01-23,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundProper seizure control during pregnancy and postpartum is essential to optimize the outcome of women with epilepsy (WWE). The current work aimed to address factors related to seizure occurrence during pregnancy and postpartum.MethodsOne hundred twenty-five WWE, compliant with their anti-seizure medications (ASMs) regimen, were prospectively evaluated for seizure control and ASMs changes all through the pregnancy up to 4 weeks postpartum.ResultsMost of the patients, 73 (58.4%), completed their pregnancy without seizures, while 52 (41.6%) had seizures. Only one case developed one episode of convulsive status epilepticus in the third trimester. Due to breakthrough seizures, the ASM dose was increased from the first to the third trimester in 19.2% of pregnancies, while another ASM was added in 8 pregnancies. Uncontrolled seizures during the six months before pregnancy were associated with a four-fold increase in the risk of seizures during pregnancy (95% CI 2.476–6.695). The latter nearly doubled the risk of seizures during the postpartum period (RR 1.978) (95% CI 1.44 -2.717). Furthermore, genetic etiology would increase the risk of seizures during the postpartum period by 2.7 times more than the unknown etiology (RR 2.778, 95%CI 1.156–6.679).ConclusionWomen with epilepsy should be counselled that proper seizure control six months before pregnancy is necessary to pass their pregnancy and the postpartum period without seizures.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023