Women with rheumatoid arthritis face an increased risk of having children who develop epilepsy, Danish researchers have reported.
The study of nearly two million children found that mothers with RA were nearly twice as likely as others to have children with epilepsy.
The findings were reported in the journal Neurology last night.
The researchers traced the children up to the age of 16 and found 31,491 who developed epilepsy. Out of these 13,556 had mothers with rheumatoid arthritis.
They found that women with RA at the time of birth were 90% more likely than others to have children developing epilepsy. When the women had pre-clinical RA, the extra risk of developing epilepsy was 26%.
The researchers say other findings have linked epilepsy to autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis – but the link with maternal RA was new.
Researcher Dr Ane Lilleore Rom, of Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, said: “These results suggest that changes in the environment for the foetus may play a role in the development of epilepsy.
“We don’t know yet how this may work, but it could involve the production of maternal antibodies that could affect the unborn child.”
Neurology 16 November 2016
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