Pregnancy of epileptic women is not associated with adverse maternal or perinatal outcome

Abstract

OR PERINATAL OUTCOME EYAL SHEINER, AMALIA LEVY, IRIS OHEL, ARNON WIZNITZER, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel, BenGurion University of the Negev, Epidemiology and Health Services Evaluation, Beer-Sheva, Israel OBJECTIVE: To investigate the pregnancy outcome of patients with epilepsy. STUDY DESIGN: A population-based study comparing all singleton pregnancies of patients with and without epilepsy was performed. Patients lacking prenatal care were excluded from the analysis. Deliveries occurred between the years 1988-2002 in a tertiary medical center. Stratified analysis, using a multiple logistic regression model was performed to control for confounders. RESULTS: During the study period 139,168 singleton deliveries occurred in our Medical Center. Of those 220 (0.2%) were of patients with epilepsy. No significant differences regarding maternal or perinatal outcome were noted between patients with and without epilepsy (Table). However, a higher rate of cesarean deliveries was found among epileptic women (17.3% vs. 11.55, P = .008). This association was persistent after controlling for possible confounders, using a multivariable analysis (OR = 1.5, 95%CI 1.1-2.3; P = .05). CONCLUSION: Pregnancy of epileptic women in general is not associated with adverse maternal or perinatal outcome, though a higher rate of cesarean deliveries was noted.