EPILEPSY DEBUT, MENARCHE AGE AND FERTILITY - IS THERE ANY RELATIONSHIP?
Abstract number :
2.342
Submission category :
Year :
2003
Submission ID :
3798
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/6/2003 12:00:00 AM
Published date :
Dec 1, 2003, 06:00 AM
Authors :
Sigrid Svalheim, Erik Tauboll, Tone Bjornenak, Line Sveberg Roste, Tore Morland, Erik R. Saetre, Leif Gjerstad Department of Neurology, Rikshospitalet, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Neurology, Telemark Central Hospital, Skien, Norway; De
There is a complex interaction between epilepsy and hormones in women. It has been claimed that onset of epilepsy is frequently related to menarche age due to the reproductive hormonal changes occurring in puberty. We wanted to investigate the relation between epilepsy debut, menarche age and fertility in a large population of female epilepsy patients.
A retrospective, questionnaire study of a cohort of 500 female out-patients, aged 18-45 was conducted. Parameters regarding epilepsy type, reproductive health issues and life style were registered. Perimenarche was defined as 2 years before and 2 years after menarche. Answers from 244 patients were acceptable regarding epilepsy type, menarche age and fertility.
In all 244 female patients, mean frequency of epilepsy onsets/year was 5.4 in the age range from 0-45 years. Among patients with debut age between 0-18 and 19-45 the frequencies were 8.6 and 3.3 onsets/year, respectively, illustrating a significantly higher incidence in the lower age groups (p[lt]0.05). In patients with onset of epilepsy between the age of 1 and 18, the frequency of epilepsy onset at perimenarche was 9.3 onsets/year compared to 7.9 onsets/year in the remaining patients with epilepsy debut in this age range (not significantly different). There was no significant relation between epilepsy type (generalized versus partial) and perimenarche age. Fertility rates for those with epilepsy starting at perimenarche compared to rest of all epilepsy patients was 0.98 children/woman versus 0.82, respectively (not significantly different). The fertility rate in the group of women with epilepsy debut between 1 and 18 yrs. minus the group with epilepsy onset at perimenarche, was also not significantly different from the other groups (0.74 children/woman).
This retrospective investigation confirms that epilepsy tends to make its first appearance in childhood and adolescence, however, there was no significantly higher debut rate in perimenarche. After the adolescence the incidence of epilepsy debut gradually declines. There was no difference in fertility or in epilepsy type in women with epilepsy debut in perimenarche compared with the other debut ages.