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

• Published in: BMC neurology Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 54
• Main Authors: Hosny, Hassan, Al Kattan, Manal Mahmoud, Zaki, Maha A, Ramzy, Gihan M, Al-Azayem, Salsabil Abo, Magdy, Rehab
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 02-02-2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Age; Anti-seizure medications; Anticonvulsants; Anticonvulsants - therapeutic use; Care and treatment; Control; Convulsions & seizures; Diagnosis; Dosage and administration; Egypt; Epilepsy; Epilepsy - drug therapy; Epilepsy - epidemiology; Etiology; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Maternal mortality; Postpartum; Postpartum Period; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications - epidemiology; Pregnant women; Prospective Studies; Seizures; Seizures (Medicine); Social aspects; Women with epilepsy; Womens health; Egypt; Pregnancy; Anti-seizure medications; Women with epilepsy; Postpartum; Seizures
• ISSN: 1471-2377; 1471-2377
• DOI: 10.1186/s12883-023-03086-w

Proper 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.
One 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.
Most 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).
Women 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.