RESEARCH ARTICLE


Pregnant Women with Epilepsy in a Developing Country



Silvia Kochen*, 1, 2, Constanza Salera 1, Josef Seni 1
1 Epilepsy Center Ramos Mejía Hospital, Buenos Aires Argentina
2 Epilepsy Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Biology E. de Robertis (IBCN), School of Medicine, Buenos Aires University, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2011
Volume: 5
First Page: 63
Last Page: 67
Publisher ID: TONEUJ-5-63
DOI: 10.2174/1874205X01105010063

Article History:

Received Date: 18/6/2011
Revision Received Date: 2/8/2011
Acceptance Date: 5/8/2011
Electronic publication date: 20/10/2011
Collection year: 2011

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Creative Commons License
© Kochen et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Epilepsy Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Biology E. de Robertis (IBCN), School of Medicine, Buenos Aires University; National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Rocamora 4122 CABA (1184), Argentina; Tel: +54 11 39718499; Fax: +54 11 49326101; E-mail: skochen@retina.ar


Abstract

This is the first prospective study carried out in Argentina and Latin America to provide the impact of epilepsy throughout the childbearing years life of women, and pregnancy outcome in a population of pregnant women with diagnosis of epilepsy and antiepileptics drugs (AEDs). Ninety-four women were studied prospectively at the Epilepsy Center, the largest in Argentina. Of the 94 women examined in this study only 10% planned their pregnancy and received folic acid before conception.

More than half of women in our study were on monotherapy, with the most frequently prescribed drugs being carbamazepine and valproic acid. In all, 90.4% of the women had a normal pregnancy and delivery. There were 8.5% spontaneous abortions. Major congenital malformations (MCM) was detected in 10.6% of newborns at birth; in the general population it varies between 1.6-3.2%. The results from this study are helpful in the highlighting correct gaps in knowledge in this population group.

Keywords: Epilepsy, gender, women, pregnancy, AEDs, family planning, developing countries.