Maternal and Fetal Factors in the Development of Epilepsy

Abstract

The birth certificates and obstetric records of 564 epileptic children born in Baltimore between 1935 and 1952 showed significantly more abnormalities during pregnancy, delivery, and in the neonatal period than a similar number of matched controls. There were no differences in the number of these abnormalities among epileptic children whose parents did or did not have seizures, or according to type of seizure or eeg abnormality. In the white group, but not in the non-white group, there was a significantly higher number of abnormalities in the children whose seizures had their onset during the 1st year of life. Some doubt is raised as to the genetic etiology of epilepsy and a hypothesis formulated of a continuum of reproductive casualty. This continuum consists of brain damage incurred during the prenatal and paranatal periods as a result of abnormalities during these periods, leading to damage extending from death through cerebral palsy, mental deficiency, behavior disorder, and epilepsy.