title: Pregnancy outcome of 149 pregnancies in women with epilepsy: Experience from a tertiary care hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epilepsy has a prevalence of 1.65% in adults, and every 1 in 200 pregnancies encounters its complications. We aimed to present the existing condition of and our experience with epileptic pregnant women for whom the prepregnancy counseling is inadequate in Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated 149 epileptic pregnant women between March 2009 and January 2015. Demographic features of the patients, along with type and duration of epileptic seizure, time of diagnosis, date of last seizure prior to pregnancy, number and duration of seizures during pregnancy, type of AEDs, result and week of termination of pregnancy, and birth weight were registered, and also, we evaluated perinatal complications and fetal malformations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age of the patients was 27.12 ± 5.4 years, and mean duration from the diagnosis of epilepsy to pregnancy was 9.68 ± 5.91 years. Twenty-seven (18.12%) and 101 (67.78%) patients had polytherapy and monotherapy, respectively. We observed epileptic seizures in 103 (69.12%) patients during pregnancy, and seizures mostly occurred in the first and third trimesters. Forty-one (39.80%) patients had seizures in all three trimesters. Forty-two (28.18%) patients among all patients who had seizures during pregnancy had 5 or more seizures. Major malformations, namely, cleft lip and palate, ventriculoseptal defect, and spina bifida were observed in the patients. Mean birth week was 38.43 ± 1.68 weeks, and mean birth weight was 2965.31 ± 453.94 grams. Twenty-two patients had normal spontaneous vaginal delivery whereas 118 patients had cesarean section.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pregnant women with epilepsy have their own risks. These women should be followed by experienced obstetricians and neurologists during their pregnancies. Appropriate management and follow-up lead to good results almost the same as general population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital Ankara Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital Ankara Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa Erkan
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital Ankara Turkey.
authors.forename: Aslihan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurt
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital Ankara Turkey.
authors.forename: Vefa Selimova
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Sakar
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital Ankara Turkey.
authors.forename: Cemal Resat
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Atalay
keywords: hospital mortality; redo cardiac surgery; risk factors