Maternal and perinatal outcome in pregnancy with epilepsy: A five year retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder. Women with epilepsy tend to fear the effect the disease on their babies. Objectives: The objective of the present study is to analyse the effect of epilepsy on the maternal and perinatal outcomes in pregnant women. Method: A retrospective analysis of Medical Records of women with epilepsy admitted to the labour ward was done from the year 2015 -2020. Results: A total of 17613 women delivered during the study period of which 41 patients were suffering from epilepsy. A total of six antiepileptic drugs were used of which the commonest one as monotherapy was Levetiracetam (48.8%). It was observed that 29.2% of the patients required polytherapy. Recurrent seizures were observed in 24.3% of the patients. Fourteen percent of the patients had a prior history of abortions. Of the obstetric complications 7.3%of the patients had pre-eclampsia and 36.6% had late preterm. There were no association with antepartum or postpartum haemorrhage. Small for gestational age was observed in 12.19% of the cases. Conclusion: With the shift in the use of second generation AEDS like Levetiracetam for the treatment of pregnant women with epilepsy, the maternal and perinatal outcomes are promising.