Salivary concentrations of antiepileptic drugs, oestradiol and progesterone throughout pregnancy in epileptic women
Herkes, G.K.; Eadie, M.J.
Clinical and Experimental Neurology 29: 74-80
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0196-6383 PMID: 1343875 Document Number: 393024
Epileptic women may experience an increase in seizure frequency during pregnancy. To explore the relationship between seizures, simultaneous antiepileptic drug and sex hormone concentrations, 8 pregnant epileptic women collected saliva each week throughout their pregnancies and for up to 6 weeks after delivery. The ratio of the drug dose to the drug's body fluid concentration at steady state (dose:Css), as measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), increased throughout pregnancy and fell in the 3rd to 4th week postpartum. There was no correlation between the dose:Css ratio and the salivary oestradiol concentration, nor between the number of seizures and the antiepileptic drug or sex hormone concentrations, and there was only a weak positive correlation between the dose:Css ratio and the salivary progesterone concentration. The possible interactions between sex hormone concentrations, antiepileptic drug concentrations and seizures are complex, and warrant further study in a greater number of pregnant subjects.