Changes in seizure frequency and antiepileptic therapy during pregnancy

NIH sponsored the MONEAD clinical trial, which investigated whether pregnancy affects how often seizures occur in epileptic women. The prospective study included 299 expecting mothers and 93 control patients, all with a history of seizures that impair awareness. For each, researchers compared the frequency of seizures during pregnancy and through the first 6 weeks following childbirth with the frequency 7.5 months postpartum. Seizures occurred more often during pregnancy than during the postpartum period for 23% of the pregnant women and, similarly, for 25% of the controls. Investigators also observed, however, that doses of antiepileptic drugs were changed more frequently in pregnant women than in women who were not pregnant during the first 9 months of the peripartum period.