Seizure frequency increases by more than 50% during pregnancy in women with frontal lobe epilepsy, according to new data presented at AES 2018.
The findings, presented by Dr Paula Voinescu of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA, are from a study of 114 pregnancies in 99 women. The researchers assessed seizure frequency in the 9 months before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and in the 9 months after pregnancy.
During pregnancy, seizure frequency increased by 53% in women with frontal lobe epilepsy and only 5.5% in women with generalized epilepsy, compared with the pre-pregnancy period.
After pregnancy, seizure frequency increased by 20% in women with frontal lobe epilepsy and 12% in women with generalized epilepsy.