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Good News for Epilepsy Patients: Fertility Not Affected by Disorder
ST. PAUL, MN (July 21, 1998) Contrary to earlier reports, people with epilepsy have the same number of children as those without the neurological disorder, according to a study published in the July issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"Other studies have found decreased fertility among people with epilepsy, which has given patients and their families and physicians the perception that they may have difficulty having children," said neurologist W. Allen Hauser, MD, of Columbia University in New York. "Our study is good news for the average person with epilepsy."
Hauser said this study has several advantages over earlier studies. In previous studies, patients were identified by epilepsy referral centers, and therefore the studies included a higher percentage of people with uncontrollable epilepsy. The current study involved everyone diagnosed with epilepsy in Iceland during a five-year period.
This study also used a better method than previous studies to compare the epilepsy patients to those without epilepsy, Hauser said. Each epilepsy patient was compared to two people in Iceland of the same gender born closest to the patientÃs birth date. "Iceland offers a unique way to make comparisons through a computerized genealogical database at the University of Iceland," Hauser said.
Both the group of 209 epilepsy patients and the control group of 418 people had an average of two children. The fertility rate was not affected by seizure type or the age when diagnosed with epilepsy. There was also no difference in fertility between men and women with epilepsy, which counters an earlier study.
Epilepsy patients who also had mental retardation or cerebral palsy were much more likely to have no children than those they were compared to.
Epilepsy affects about 2.5 million Americans. Epilepsy is a family of more than 40 neurological conditions that share a common symptom ñ seizures. Improving care for patients with epilepsy and other neurological disorders through education and research is the goal of the American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 15,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals.
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