New research published in the October 12, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that women with epilepsy may face a higher risk of infertility.
The study, conducted in India, found that women with epilepsy experienced infertility at more than twice the rate of the general population. The research also highlighted that women who took multiple epilepsy medications were more likely to struggle with infertility than those on fewer or no medications.
The study followed 375 women, with an average age of 26, who were trying to conceive. The women were observed for up to 10 years or until they became pregnant. Of the participants, 62% became pregnant, while 38% remained infertile. In contrast, the infertility rate for women in the general population in India is 15%.
The study also found that women on three or more epilepsy drugs were 18 times more likely to be infertile than those not taking any epilepsy medications. Among women taking no epilepsy drugs, 7% were infertile. This number rose to 32% for those on one drug, 41% for those on two drugs, and 60% for those on three or more.
Study author Sanjeev Thomas, DM, from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Trivandrum, India, explained that this could be due to the adverse effects of multiple medications or the possibility that women taking more drugs have more severe epilepsy that is harder to treat.
The study also found that older women and those with less than 10 years of education were more likely to experience infertility. Thomas noted that epilepsy, especially when difficult to treat, could affect a woman’s ability to pursue education, potentially leading to a correlation between low education levels and infertility.
The research showed that most pregnancies occurred within two years. Based on these findings, Alison M. Pack, MD, from Columbia University, suggested that women with epilepsy should be informed about the potential risk of infertility and seek evaluation if they haven’t conceived within two years.
The study also noted that women taking the drug phenobarbital faced a higher risk of infertility, but no such trend was seen with valproate or other medications.
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