Age of menarche in girls with epilepsy and antiepileptic therapy

Epilepsy, seizures and antiepileptic therapy involve hormones in different ways, especially sexual hormones in adults.

Aim of the study: Is the age of first menstruation (menarche) of epileptic girls different in compare with their healthy sisters and mothers?

Study design: During the outpatient consultings date of menarche of the patients, their sisters and their mothers were asked. Duration of epilepsy, medication and the duration of medication and the eeg were recorded The date of menarche of mothers and sisters of the patients were recorded also as a comparable biological standard. They all were healthy without epilepsy

Results: The dates from 106 girls, their mothers and their sisters – if available – were evaluated. At time of recording the patients were 15.3±3.0 years old. The age of first menstruation was 12.5±1.4 years; that of the mothers 12.8±1.4 years, that of the sisters (n=36) 12.7±1.8 years. The differences between the groups are not significant. The medication has no influence on menarche. AED: Valproate (n=48), Sulthiame (n=24), CBZ (n=15), Phenobarbitone (n=6), the rest distributed among the other AEDs with small numbers.

Summary: AED therapy has no influence on the first day of menstruation (age of menarche) compared to the date of menarche of healthy mothers and sisters.