According to researchers from Harvard University (USA), although it is understood that epilepsy can increase the risk of complications during pregnancy and during childbirth, there was until then little data details about these risks. The researchers wanted to fill this gap by studying the medical records of nearly 4.2 million women who gave birth in the United States between 2007 and 2011. Of these women, 14,500 suffered from epilepsy.
All complications of childbirth were counted including preterm delivery, cesarean delivery, pre-eclampsia or maternal mortality.
Applying their figures to the national level, the researchers say that there is a ten times higher risk of maternal death in women with epilepsy: 80 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies compared to the rate of 6 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies in non-epileptic women.
Additionally, the team found women with epilepsy were at higher risk for other complications, such as preterm labor, pre-eclampsia or stillbirth (a stillborn child). These women were also more likely to need a caesarean section for childbirth.
Every year in France, 5,000 babies are born to mothers suffering from epilepsy. Pregnancy in these women is not without danger for the baby because drugs for epilepsy can increase the risk of birth defects. Medicines based on valproate in particular, would have caused 377 malformations in France between 1986 and 2015 as well as 54 miscarriages, abortions or infant deaths. The Minister of Social Affairs and Health has also just ordered an investigation into the conditions of use of this drug.
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Valproate at the heart of a new health scandal?
Epilepsy: it concerns all brains
