COMMENTARY

Anticonvulsant medication

Antiepileptic drug therapy during pregnancy: the neurologist's perspective

S Shorvon

Department of Clinical Neurology, Institute of Neurology, University College London, and National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor S Shorvon, Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK;
sshorvon@singnet.com.sg

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Antiepileptic medication in pregnancy

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The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Epilepsy causes disadvantage for many reasons, and for women there are particular problems associated with epilepsy in pregnancy. Some are the direct result of seizures, some result from the drug treatment, and some are secondary handicaps because of stigmatisation. It was not very many generations ago that women with epilepsy were routinely advised not to reproduce, and in many countries, even in recent times, there have been legal interdictions on marriage and childbearing. In the western democracies, less prejudicial attitudes now prevail, but recent epidemiological evidence still shows that women with epilepsy, when compared to controls, have lower fertility rates,¹ children born later, lower rates of marriage,² higher rates of sexual dysfunction,³ and hormonal changes.⁴ There are currently about 75 000 women of childbearing age on treatment for epilepsy in the UK,¹ and about 0.3-0.4% of all births are to mothers with epilepsy. The neurologist has a duty . . . [Full text of this article]

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