Perceptions of reproductive risk among women with epilepsy of childbearing age.

Background: Having children or planning to have children may raise many questions for women with epilepsy. Seizures and antiseizure medications (ASMs) impact contraception, fetal/early childhood development, and maternal health. Little is known regarding patients' perspectives about reproductive risk and how those perspectives influence reproductive decision-making.

Increasing challenges to trial recruitment and conduct over time.

Objective: This study was undertaken to evaluate how the challenges in the recruitment and retention of participants in clinical trials for focal onset epilepsy have changed over time.

Methods: In this systematic analysis of randomized clinical trials of adjunct antiseizure medications for medication-resistant focal onset epilepsy, we evaluated how the numbers of participants, sites, and countries have changed since the first such trial in 1990. We also evaluated the proportion of participants who completed each trial phase and their reasons for early trial exit.