Intended for healthcare professionals

Papers

Population based, prospective study of the care of women with epilepsy in pregnancy

BMJ 2000; 321 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.321.7262.674 (Published 16 September 2000) Cite this as: BMJ 2000;321:674
  1. Susan D Fairgrieve, genetic nurse specialist (JohnBurn@newcastle.ac.uk)a,
  2. Margaret Jackson, consultant neurologistb,
  3. Patricia Jonas, research midwifea,
  4. David Walshaw, lecturer in medical statisticsc,
  5. Kathleen White, specialist registrar in neurologyb,
  6. Tara L Montgomery, specialist registrar in clinical geneticsa,
  7. John Burn, professor of clinical geneticsa,
  8. Sally A Lynch, consultant clinical geneticista
  1. a Department of Human Genetics, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AA
  2. b Department of Neurology, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4LP
  3. c Department of Statistics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
  1. Correspondence to: S Fairgrieve
  • Accepted 28 March 2000

This prospective, population based study in the former Northern health region was designed to establish the proportion of pregnant women with a history of epilepsy; doctors supervising their care; effectiveness of preconceptional counselling and control of epilepsy; and use of medication and pregnancy outcomes.

Subjects, methods, and results

The project had approval from regional ethics committees. Pregnant women with epilepsy were recruited to the study, predominantly by community midwives. Women who consented were interviewed by using a standard questionnaire. Hospital notes were reviewed after the women had given birth. General practice and hospital notes were checked in one area to confirm the women's response regarding preconceptional advice. Between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 1998, 400 notifications of pregnancies to women with epilepsy were received (the total number of livebirths, stillbirths, and medical terminations for this period was 65 478, giving a proportion of all pregnancies to women with epilepsy of 6.1/1000).

View this table:

Malformations seen in relation to use of drugs

Three hundred women were interviewed, 60 did not consent …

View Full Text