[Epilepsy, anticonvulsants and pregnancy].

A statistical study, using a computer, of 343 epileptic women with 775 pregnancies led to the following conclusions: 1. The influence of pregnancy on epilepsy is very variable: null once out of 2 times, pregnancy is more often favourable than unfavourable in the remaining 50% of the cases. 2. The influence of epilepsy on pregnancy seems to be null with regard to the course of pregnancy, its termination and the post-delivery period. The perinatal mortality rate is, however, higher. 3. Concerning the very present question of the teratogenic risk due to anticonvulsants, it appears that an epileptic woman has a slightly higher risk to bear a child with a congenital defect than does a non-epileptic mother; 4.04% of malformations in treated epileptic women, 2.32% in non-treated; 2.2% and 1.8% in two control groups.