ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the maternal and foetal outcomes of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) use during pregnancy, in women of Afro-Caribbean descent, seen at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted for the period of 2002-12. From the records received, 40 cases were identified from the labour ward admission books and the Codes and Ethics Department. The controls were sought from the labour ward records and were matched for year of delivery, age ± 6 years and co-morbidities.

Results: An adverse foetal outcome was higher in infants exposed to AEDs in utero and was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.04). The occurrence of minor malformations in infants exposed to AED was determined to be more than two-times (14.2%) compared to the occurrence in infants from the control group (6.1%). The maternal outcomes from an exposure to AED in pregnancy were not found to be significantly different between cases and controls. (p = 0.06).

Conclusion: There are additional adverse effects of AED use in pregnancy, other than major congenital malformations (MCMs), such as an increased risk of foetal demise. Similar to the previous reports, there are adverse maternal outcomes of AED use, though the differences did not achieve conventional levels of statistical significance in this study.