Knowledge and practice profile of obstetricians regarding epilepsy in women in Kerala state, India.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the knowledge of obstetricians about concerns of women with epilepsy.


METHODS
We surveyed 97 obstetricians (teaching hospitals-43, private hospitals-32, and community health centers-21) using knowledge of women's issues and epilepsy (KOWIE) questionnaire II with additional questions.


RESULTS
The mean duration of practice of the surveyed obstetricians was 12.4 ± 10.7 years and 94% were female doctors. Most of them were well informed about the teratogenic effects of AEDs (91%), need to continue antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy (95%), and the role of folic acid and vitamin K during pregnancy (95%). They agreed AEDs decrease the efficacy of oral contraception and it was safe for the woman to breast-feed the baby while on AEDs. Only 1/3(rd) of them knew that steroid hormones could alter seizure threshold or that AEDs could predispose to osteomalacia. Fewer doctors knew that WWE could have increased sexual dysfunction (29.9%) or infertility (26.8%). The knowledge did not vary according to years of practice or practice settings.


CONCLUSIONS
Obstetricians were well informed about the fetal complications of antenatal AED exposure, but were under informed of other complications such as osteomalacia, sexual dysfunction, and infertility.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Mamta
M
Bhat
K N
KN
Ramesha
C
C
Nirmala
P S
PS
Sarma
Sanjeev V
SV
Thomas