The National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines epilepsy as, “a brain disorder involving repeated, spontaneous seizures of any type,” with seizures being abnormal electrical activity in the brain.
Epilepsy can be caused by a variety of conditions in the brain. Some of the causes of epilepsy are injuries to the brain, like from a stroke or tumor, injuries around the type of birth and traumatic brain injury. Certain diseases, like dementia, metabolic disease, brain infections and kidney or liver failure may also be responsible. The cause may also be present at birth through a congenital brain defect, or may be idiopathic, meaning there is no specific cause.
When a patient is having an epileptic seizure, her symptoms can range from mild to severe. She may just have a staring spell, where it seems she is looking off at nothing in particular, or they could have a loss of consciousness or convulsions. However, if the woman is pregnant when she has an epileptic seizure, it can have effects on her unborn child.
HealthDay News reports that a study conducted in Taiwan found that epileptic seizures during pregnancy increased the risk of premature and low weight births; the findings were published in the Archives of Neurology . Researchers found that these women were 36 percent more likely to give birth to a child below 5.5 pounds, 63 percent more likely to deliver before 37 weeks and 37 percent more likely to have a child who was small for gestational age.
The researchers state that there are two possible reasons why epileptic seizures cause premature and low weight births: the first possibility is that the fetal membrane is ruptured, which increases the risk of early delivery, as well as infection; the second possibility is that the seizures cause contractions in the uterus.
The Mayo Clinic states that a premature birth can result in health complications for the infant, though they decrease if the baby is born after 28 to 30 weeks; by 32 to 26 weeks, many of the complications are short term. Less serious complications are jaundice, low blood pressure and anemia. More serious complications include hearing problems, difficulty breathing, learning disabilities, apnea, developmental delays, intracranial hemorrhage, intestinal problems, hydrocephalus, vision problems and cerebral palsy. To prevent premature births due to epilepsy, the researchers suggest a better epileptic seizure management program before pregnancy and helping expecting mothers reduce their risk through limiting stress.
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Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch received her bachelor’s of science degree in neuroscience from Trinity College in Hartford, CT in May 2009. She is the Hartford Women's Health Examiner and she writes about abuse on Suite 101.