Epilepsy is More Likely in Offspring for Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis Save

The offspring of women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be at greater risk for the development of epilepsy, according to a recent report in the journal Neurology, suggesting that epileptogenic triggers may begin during pregnancy and may be worsened by RA flares or the treatment for RA.  (Citation source: http://buff.ly/2g4QgSD)

Rom and colleagues used Danish national registries to identify children with epilepsy and were able to link these events back to their mothers for study. Children who developed epilepsy were stratified into 3 groups according to age at diagnosis: early childhood (5 years), late childhood (5-15 years), or adolescence/adulthood (>15 years of age).

They identified 31,491 children from the registry diagnosed with epilepsy. Of the total cohort, 1% of the children were exposed to RA at all; with 79% of these being maternal RA.

The hazard ratio (HR) for the onset of childhood epilepsy based on maternal exposure to RA was 1.34 in early childhood and 1.27 in later childhood (after age 5). 

Previous studies have indicated a link between development of epilepsy and autoimmune diseases of the brain such as systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome, and multiple sclerosis, and a 3-fold increase associated with RA.

Studies from Denmark have shown a 90% increased risk of epilepsy among children born to mothers who had clinical RA, and a 30% increased risk in children exposed to preclinical RA in the mothers.

The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unclear.