Antiepileptic drugs and Pregnancy: A brief review

Epilepsy affects approximately 1 percent of the population and roughly 1 million women of childbearing age. Estimates suggest that 0.3-0.7 percent of pregnancies occur in women with epilepsy. Epilepsy itself increases the risk of congenital malformation and medications add to this risk. Also, approximately one-half of the use of medications for epilepsy are used for other indications, possibly increasing exposure in some women. As controlled trials with these medications are not performed during pregnancy, data has been accumulated primarily through databases and case studies. This review is intended to update the practitioner about the use and concerns of antiepileptic medications in the pregnant woman and the potential effects on the fetus and neonate. We searched PubMed database for articles published from January 2020 to May 2024. We used ‘Pregnancy’ and ‘Antiepileptic drugs’ keywords. Of the total articles screened (n = 1153), seventeen publications were finally included in this review.