Marriage and fertility in epileptic patients.

Marital status and fertility were compared for 100 epileptic females and 100 epileptic males. The marriage rate among male patients was 59% of expected (p less than 0.001) as compared to 83% for female patients (p less than 0.10). Patients with early onset of seizures, particularly males, had lower marriage rates than expected, unlike patients with onset after age 20. Married female patients had only 69% of the expected number of live-born children (p less than 0.001) as compared to 100% for married male patients. Marriage and fertility rates of epileptic females have improved in the last generation, while those of epileptic males have remained constant.