Unintended pregnancy, prenatal care, newborn outcomes, and breastfeeding in women with epilepsy

Mission: Control. How Can We Increase Highly Effective Contraception Use in Women With Epilepsy?

Prevalence of Highly Effective Contraception Use by Women With Epilepsy

Herzog AG, Mandle HB, MacEachern DB. Neurology. 2019; pii: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000007581. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000007581. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 31101739.

Objective:

To determine (1) the proportion of women with epilepsy (WWE) at risk of unintended pregnancy who use highly effective contraception, (2) demographic predictors, and (3) folic acid (FA) use.

Methods:

These cross-sectional data come from 311 US WWE, 18 to 47 years, who participated in the Epilepsy Birth Control Registry (EBCR) web-based survey in 2017. They provided demographic, epilepsy, antiepileptic drug (AED), contraceptive, and FA data. We report frequencies of highly effective contraception use and use logistic regression to determine demographic predictors. We report the proportion who take FA.

Results:

A total of 186 (59.8%) of the 311 WWE were at risk of unintended pregnancy. A total of 131 (70.4%) used a highly effective contraceptive category; 55 (29.6%) did not. An additional 13 (7.0%) used a combination of generally effective hormonal contraception with an enzyme-inducing AED, which poses increased risk of unintended pregnancy. Overall, 68 (36.6%) of the 186 WWE at risk did not use highly effective contraception. Increasing income (P = .004) and having insurance (P = .048) were predictors of highly effective contraception. A total of 50.0% took FA supplement. There was no significant difference in relation to the use or lack of use of highly effective contraception.

Conclusion:

A total of 36.6% of WWE in the EBCR did not use highly effective contraception and 50.0% did not take FA in 2017 despite the important negative consequences of unintended pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes. There is a need for more readily available information and counseling on safe and effective contraception and FA use for this community.

Cutting the Losses of Pregnant Women With Epilepsy

Association of Unintended Pregnancy With Spontaneous Fetal Loss in Women With Epilepsy: Findings of the Epilepsy Birth Control RegistryHerzog AG, Mandle HB, MacEachern DB. JAMA Neurol. 2018. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.3089. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 30326007.

IMPORTANCE

If unintended pregnancy is common among women with epilepsy and is associated with increased risk of spontaneous fetal loss (SFL), it is important to develop guidelines for safe and effective contraception for this community.

OBJECTIVE

To assess whether planned pregnancy is a determinant of SFL in women with epilepsy.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

The Epilepsy Birth Control Registry conducted this web-based, retrospective survey between 2010 and 2014. It gathered demographic, epilepsy, antiepileptic drug (AED), contraceptive, and reproductive data from 1144 women with epilepsy in the community between ages 18 and 47 years. Data were analyzed between March 2018 and May 2018. Main outcomes and measures The primary outcome was the risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for SFL in unplanned versus planned pregnancies. The secondary outcome was the identification of some potentially modifiable variables (maternal age, pregnancy spacing, and AED category) of SFL versus live birth using binary logistic regression.

RESULTS

The participants were proportionally younger (mean [standard deviation] age, 28.5 [6.8] years), and 39.8% had household incomes of $25 000 or less. Minority women represented only 8.7% of the participants. There were 530 (66.8%) of 794 unplanned pregnancies and 264 (33.2%) of 794 planned pregnancies. The risk of SFL in 653 unaborted pregnancies in women with epilepsy was greater for unplanned (n = 137 of 391; 35.0%) than planned (n = 43 of 262; 16.4%) pregnancies (RR: 2.14; 95% CI: 1.59-2.90; P < .001). Regression analysis found that the risk of SFL was greater when planning was entered alone (odds ratio [OR], 2.75; 95% CI: 1.87-4.05; P < .001) and more so when adjusted for maternal age, interpregnancy interval, and AED category (OR: 3.57; 95% CI: 1.54-8.78; P = .003). Interpregnancy interval (OR: 2.878; 95% CI: 1.8094-4.5801; P = .008) and maternal age (OR: 0.957; 95% CI: 0.928-0.986 for each year from 18 to 47 years; P = .02), but not AED category, were also associated. The risk was greater when interpregnancy interval was less than 1 year (n = 56 of 122; 45.9%) versus greater than 1 year (n = 56 of 246; 22.8%; RR: 2.02; 95% CI: 1.49-2.72; P < .001). Relative to the younger than 18 years cohort (n = 15 of 29; 51.7%), the risks were lower for the intermediate older cohort aged 18 to 27 years (n = 118 of 400; 29.5%; RR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.39-0.84; P < .004) and the cohort aged 28 to 37 years (n = 44 of 212; 20.8%; RR: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.26-0.62; P < .001) but not significantly different for the small number of participants in the aged 38 to 47 years cohort (n = 3 of 12; 25.0%). No individual AED category's SFL frequency differed significantly from the no AED category.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The Epilepsy Birth Control Registry retrospective survey finding that unplanned pregnancy in women with epilepsy may double the risk of SFL warrants prospective investigation with outcome verification.