Physicians need to increase their knowledge of current guidelines about the management of epilepsy in women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, according to results of a survey.
SAN ANTONIO—Neurologists and neurology residents were unable to provide correct answers to half of the questions they were asked concerning treatment guidelines involving pregnancy and epilepsy, according to research presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society.
Gauging Awareness of the Guidelines
Nathalie Jetté, MD, MSc, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary in Canada, and colleagues conducted the research in response to the American Academy of Neurology’s 2009 establishment of new guidelines regarding epilepsy management in women who are or may become pregnant. Previous research has demonstrated that physicians have poor knowledge of treatment guidelines for women with epilepsy, they noted.
The researchers developed a survey based on the new guidelines and provided it to 45 neurologists and 15 neurology residents. The survey “emphasized knowledge of pregnancy-related risks associated with the use of specific anti-epileptic drugs,” they wrote.
A Need for Knowledge Translation
The survey had an 83.3% response rate; 63% of the respondents were men. Of the respondents, 31% said that epilepsy was a major component of their practice and 58% said the survey contents were important to their practice. On average, patients with epilepsy comprised 12.2% of the respondents’ practices.
The respondents answered an average of 49.3% of the questions correctly. “Only 20% of respondents knew that there was good evidence to support the statement that women with epilepsy have a high likelihood (84% to 92%) of remaining seizure free during pregnancy if they were seizure free for nine months prior to conception, while 40% of physicians thought the duration was 12 months,” the investigators wrote. They noted a significant correlation between the respondents’ proportion of epilepsy patients and percentage of correct answers.
“More knowledge translation efforts are required to increase physician knowledge of pregnancy-related issues for women with epilepsy,” the researchers concluded. “Increased awareness and applications of the guidelines in practice should result in provision of better care for women of reproductive age with epilepsy.”
—Jack Baney