Treating status epilepticus in adults.

This clinical review examines the treatment of status epilepticus, a condition in which epileptic seizures are prolonged and pose a significant risk of brain damage and death. International guidelines recommend the use of benzodiazepines as first-line treatment, and these should be administered promptly and in appropriate doses. Second-line treatment involves the use of high-dose anti-seizure medications to stop and prevent seizures.

No effect of electrical transcranial direct current stimulation adjunct treatment for epilepsia partialis continua in POLG disease.

We report a 15-year-old female with POLG-related mitochondrial disease who developed severe multifocal epilepsia partialis continua, unresponsive to standard anti seizure drug treatment and general anesthesia. Based on an earlier case report, we treated her focal seizures that affected her right upper limb with 20-min sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) at an intensity of 2 mA on each of five consecutive days. The cathode was placed over the left primary motor cortex, the anode over the contralateral orbitofrontal cortex.

Association of Folic Acid Supplementation During Pregnancy With the Risk of Autistic Traits in Children Exposed to Antiepileptic Drugs In Utero.

Importance: Strategies to prevent autism in children exposed to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy are important.

Objective: To explore whether folic acid supplementation and folate status in pregnancy are associated with reduced risk of autistic traits owing to in utero AED exposure.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The population-based, prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study approached Norwegian-speaking women attending routine ultrasonographic examinations from June 1999 through December 31, 2008 (163 844 of 277 702 women refused).

Overweight in epilepsy as a risk factor for pregnancy and delivery complications.

Objective: To investigate whether prepregnancy overweight in women with epilepsy increases their risk for complications during pregnancy and delivery.

Methods: This study is based on The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) linked to the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. A diagnosis of epilepsy was reported in 706 pregnancies.

Life satisfaction in women with epilepsy during and after pregnancy.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate life satisfaction in women with epilepsy during and after pregnancy.

Methods: The study was based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, including 102,265 women with and without epilepsy from the general population. Investigation took place at pregnancy weeks 15-19 and 6 and 18months postpartum.

Psychiatric Comorbidity, Social Aspects and Quality of Life in a Population-Based Cohort of Expecting Fathers with Epilepsy.

Objectives: To investigate psychiatric disorders, adverse social aspects and quality of life in men with epilepsy during partner's pregnancy.

Method: We used data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, including 76,335 men with pregnant partners. Men with epilepsy were compared to men without epilepsy, and to men with non-neurological chronic diseases.

Epilepsy and recommendations for breastfeeding.

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to provide a synopsis of benefits and potential harmful effects of exposure to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) via breastmilk, and present recommendations for breastfeeding in women with epilepsy.

Methods: The article is based on a discretionary selection of English language articles retrieved by a literature search in the PubMed database, the LactMed database, and the authors' clinical experience.

Results: Breastfeeding is associated with benefits for the infant, including nutrition, protection against infectious and immunological disease, and promotion of development and psychological attachment.

Epilepsy and eating disorders during pregnancy: Prevalence, complications and birth outcome.

Purpose: The aim was to investigate the prevalence of eating disorders and its relation to pregnancy and delivery complications in childbearing women with epilepsy (WWE).

Method: This study is based on The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) linked to the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Epilepsy was reported in 706 pregnancies.

Depression and anxiety during pregnancy and the postpartum period in women with epilepsy: A review of frequency, risks and recommendations for treatment.

Purpose: To review available data and provide treatment recommendations concerning peripartum depression, anxiety and fear of birth in women with epilepsy (WWE).

Method: The PubMed, the LactMed, the DART and the Cochrane database were searched for original articles concerning psychiatric disease in the peripartum period in WWE.

Results: Point prevalence of depression from 2nd trimester to 6 months postpartum ranged from 16 to 35% in women with epilepsy compared to 9-12% in controls.

Depression and anxiety in women with epilepsy during pregnancy and after delivery: a prospective population-based cohort study on frequency, risk factors, medication, and prognosis.

Objective: To assess incidence, prevalence, risk factors, and prognosis of peripartum depression and anxiety in a prospective study of women with epilepsy.

Method: Pregnancies in women with epilepsy (n=706) were compared to pregnancies in all women without epilepsy (n=106,511) including women with specified nonepileptic chronic diseases (n=8,372) in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. The database was linked to the Medical Birth Registry of Norway.

Fetal growth restriction and birth defects with newer and older antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy.

The primary aim of this study was to assess the risks of fetal growth restriction and birth defects in children exposed prenatally to newer and older antiepileptic drugs, using an unselected epilepsy cohort. Deliveries recorded in the compulsory Medical Birth Registry of Norway 1999-2011 formed the study population. All 2,600 children exposed to antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy were compared to all 771,412 unexposed children born to women without epilepsy.

Psychiatric comorbidity and social aspects in pregnant women with epilepsy - the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate psychiatric disease and social aspects in young women with epilepsy before and during pregnancy.

Method: The study included self-reported data from 106,935 pregnancies.

Results: Seven hundred eleven women reported having epilepsy, and 45.

Early child development and exposure to antiepileptic drugs prenatally and through breastfeeding: a prospective cohort study on children of women with epilepsy.

Importance: Exposure to antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy is associated with adverse effects on psychomotor development.

Objectives: To determine whether signs of impaired development appear already during the first months of life in children exposed prenatally to antiepileptic drugs, and to explore potential adverse effects of antiepileptic drug exposure through breastfeeding.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Mothers at 13 to 17 weeks of pregnancy were recruited in the population-based, prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study from 1999 to 2009.

Exposure to antiepileptic drugs in utero and child development: a prospective population-based study.

Purpose: Antiepileptic drugs may cause congenital malformations. Less is known about the effect on development in infancy and childhood. The aim of this study was to examine whether exposure to antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy has an effect on early child development.

Pregnancy, delivery, and outcome for the child in maternal epilepsy.

Purpose: To investigate pregnancy, delivery, and child outcome in an unselected population of women with both treated and untreated epilepsy.

Methods: In the compulsory Medical Birth Registry of Norway, all 2,861 deliveries by women with epilepsy recorded from 1999-2005 were compared to all 369,267 nonepilepsy deliveries in the same period.

Results: The majority (66%, n = 1900) in the epilepsy group did not use antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy.

Pregnancy, delivery and perinatal outcome in female survivors of polio.

Objective: To investigate possible effects on pregnancy, delivery and perinatal outcome in female survivors of polio.

Methods: In a cohort design, data from the national population based Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN) were used to compare all 2495 births recorded 1967-1998 by female survivors of polio with all 1.9 mill non-polio deliveries.