Pregnancy outcome in women with epilepsy in Western China: A prospective hospital based study

Gaps exist in the diagnosis and treatment of women with epilepsy (WWE) between China and Euro-American countries. We aim to find out and share our experience of the multidisciplinary integrated treatment for WWE.

We prospectively registered WWE who were diagnosed by both epileptologists and obstetrician in our green way system for the past 5years (2009-2015). Registration information include years of education, epilepsy history, seizure type and frequency, pregnancy and delivery complications, delivery mode, and Apgar score of newborn. All data were analyzed by SAS 9.3 version.

We included 137 cases of maternal epilepsy (155 pregnancies with average maternal age of 26years old). 18 cases underwent epilepsy surgery before pregnancy. 103 pregnancies (66.45%) were cesarean section, 52 (33.55%) were natural childbirth, only 10 pregnancies have pregnancy complications, 2 have delivery complication, and 15 have seizures during delivery process. Most offspring were healthy when they were born (only 11 newborn got Apgar score<7). For drug treatment, patients never took AEDs or withdrew AEDs in 55 (35.48%) pregnancies. For folic acid supplementation, only 9 (5.81%) achieved the dose recommended by ILAE guideline (5mg/day). For the seizure frequency, 108 pregnancies (69.68%) did not changed, 3 (1.94%) reduced, 44(28.39%) increased and mainly increased in the first and last trimesters. For feeding way, 90 (58.06%) chose artificial feeding, followed by 39 (16.77%) of mixed feeding and 26 of breastfeeding.

Clinical features and perinatal outcome of Chinese WWE are similar to western WWE. For mode of delivery, even suggested by our epileptologists and obstetrician to deliver naturally, more patients selected cesarean section. Moreover, withdrawal of AEDs during pregnancy is common. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to standard management of WWE and establish a more practical green way for WWE in China, to keep up with developed countries and improve the health level of birth in China.