Bottom Line: Women with epilepsy without a history of infertility or related disorders who wanted to become pregnant were about as likely as their peers without epilepsy to become pregnant. In an observational study of 89 women with epilepsy and 108 without, 60.7 percent of the women with epilepsy achieved pregnancy compared with 60.2 percent of women without epilepsy. They also had similar pregnancy outcomes with regard to live births and low rates of miscarriages.
Why The Research Is Interesting: Previous research suggests lower birth rates for women with epilepsy but they don't differentiate between the biological and social factors that might contribute.
Authors: Page B. Pennell, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and coauthors
Study Design: This was an observational study. Researchers were not intervening for purposes of the study and they cannot control natural differences that could explain study findings.
To Learn More: The full study is available on the For The Media website.
(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.0646)
Editor's Note: The article contains conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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JAMA Neurology