Epilepsy Charity Has Mothers In Mind, UK

Main Category: Epilepsy
Article Date: 24 Jan 2006 - 17:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

The national charity, Epilepsy Action, is urging women with epilepsy to seek advice from a health professional before conceiving, as part of the charity's Mothers in mind campaign.

The call follows the publication of results from The UK Epilepsy and Pregnancy Register at the end of last year, which define, more clearly, the risks of major congenital malformations (MCMs) posed to the unborn child by anti-epilepsy drugs (AEDs).

The results provide evidence that there is an increased risk of MCMs in babies of women taking AEDs. The study covers the relative risk of a number of AEDs, the use of single AEDs and different combinations of drugs, as well as the effects of different dosages.

Epilepsy Action welcomes the study as it shows that it is possible to try to minimise the risks to the babies of women taking AEDs by paying close attention to the particular drugs and combinations prescribed. The findings will help clinicians to look at the relative risks and work with women to choose the most appropriate AED regime for them.

In the UK it is estimated that 131,000 women with epilepsy are of childbearing age and between 1800 and 2400 children are born to women with active epilepsy each year .

Many women with epilepsy still face an unacceptable increase in the risk of having a baby with MCMs and less severe problems (minor congenital abnormalities), which can be related to having epilepsy itself and to taking AEDs during pregnancy. A number of other issues affect women with epilepsy, including the interaction of some AEDs with the contraceptive pill and the increased risk to some women of polycystic ovary syndrome.

Epilepsy Action has launched a new 15-page Mothers in mind booklet offering advice for women with epilepsy of childbearing age. The booklet offers information on issues from contraception and planning a family to pregnancy, birth and caring for babies.

The charity is advising women to discuss all the options open to them with a health professional, in order to achieve good seizure control during pregnancy for the woman and pose the minimum risk to the unborn child.

Amanda Stoneman, information services officer at Epilepsy Action, said: "Mothers in mind is about raising awareness of the issues affecting women with epilepsy. The more information that women and health professionals have, the more capable they are of establishing a good partnership to reduce the risks and establish a better quality of life for mother and child."

For women in the general population, the risk of having a baby with a MCM is a one to two per cent chance (one to two children in every 100 born). Women who do take AEDs have an average of around a four per cent chance of having a baby with a MCM.

Carley Stenson, Hollyoaks' Stephanie Dean, whose character in the hit teen-soap has epilepsy, comments: "For young women living with epilepsy there are lots of important issues - how the condition will affect your lifestyle and relationships, what impact the medication will have, etc. Most young women with epilepsy just want to be treated normally, but there are certain times in your life when a bit of extra help is needed - like when you are thinking about starting a family. That's why I'm endorsing this campaign - to ask young women to keep their epilepsy in mind when planning a family."

Women with epilepsy should not stop taking their medication without consulting their GP or epilepsy specialist first. Stopping taking medication without advice could cause an increase in seizures, which may cause more problems than the risks associated with the drugs themselves, for example by causing injury to the mother and baby due to falling.

Copies of the Mothers in mind booklet are available from Epilepsy Action's Freephone Helpline on 0808 800 5050 or via our website http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/campaigns.

www.epilepsy.org.uk

• Additional
• References
• Citations