Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences
Abstract
Background/Aim: Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological diseases. Epilepsy can affect the entire life, including childbearing age. It is estimated that epileptic women give three to five births per thousand births. Although the use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy has been associated with major congenital malformations in the fetus, many patients cannot discontinue the drugs before pregnancy due to the risk of seizures that may harm the mother as well as the children. In this study, our aim is to examine the follow-up findings of pregnant women who are epileptic and use AEDs during pregnancy and delivery, and to contribute to the literature on this subject, for which the studies are on-going.Materials and methods: 60 epileptic pregnant and 60 healthy pregnant women were included in our study. These women gave birth at Zekai Tahir Burak Women's Healthcare Training and Research Hospital and applied to the Neurology outpatient clinic on 01/04/2018-01/04/2019, and were previously diagnosed with epilepsy by a neurologist, and have started to use AED before pregnancy, and have used AEDs in the first trimester.Results: While the number of pregnancies in the case group (1.75±0.77) was significantly lower than in the control group (2.25±1.17), the rates of caesarean section and neonatal intensive care need were found to be statistically significantly higher in the case group (68.3% and 20.0%, respectively) than in the control group (43.3% and 5.0%, respectively) (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of birth week and birth weight rates.Conclusion: As a result, epileptic pregnancies have their own risks, differing from normal pregnancies. It is important that the epileptic pregnant woman is followed closely from the pregnancy planning period to the delivery in cooperation with the physician.
DOI
10.55730/1300-0144.5950
Keywords
Epilepsy, pregnancy, seizure
First Page
121
Last Page
126
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
ÖZTÜRK, PINAR and ÇAĞLAR, ALİ TURHAN
(2025)
"The use of antiepileptic drugs and their effects in pregnancy,"
Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences: Vol. 55:
No.
1, Article 14.
https://doi.org/10.55730/1300-0144.5950
Available at:
https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/medical/vol55/iss1/14
