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Preterm birth and risk of epilepsy in Swedish adults

Crump, Casey ; Sundquist, Kristina LU ; Winkleby, Marilyn LU and Sundquist, Jan LU (2011) In Neurology 77(14). p.1376-1382
Abstract
Objective: To determine whether preterm birth is associated with epilepsy in a national cohort of adults aged 25-37 years. Methods: We conducted a national cohort study of 630,090 infants born in Sweden from 1973 through 1979, including 27,953 born preterm (< 37 weeks), followed from 2005 to 2009 for 1) hospitalization for epilepsy and 2) outpatient and inpatient prescription of antiepileptic drugs. Epilepsy diagnoses and medication data were obtained from all hospitals and pharmacies throughout Sweden. Results: We found a strong association between preterm birth and epilepsy that increased by earlier gestational age. After adjusting for fetal growth and potential confounders, odds ratios for hospitalization for epilepsy were 4.98 (95%... (More)
Objective: To determine whether preterm birth is associated with epilepsy in a national cohort of adults aged 25-37 years. Methods: We conducted a national cohort study of 630,090 infants born in Sweden from 1973 through 1979, including 27,953 born preterm (< 37 weeks), followed from 2005 to 2009 for 1) hospitalization for epilepsy and 2) outpatient and inpatient prescription of antiepileptic drugs. Epilepsy diagnoses and medication data were obtained from all hospitals and pharmacies throughout Sweden. Results: We found a strong association between preterm birth and epilepsy that increased by earlier gestational age. After adjusting for fetal growth and potential confounders, odds ratios for hospitalization for epilepsy were 4.98 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.87-8.62) for those born at 23-31 weeks, 1.98 (95% CI 1.26-3.13) for those born at 32-34 weeks, and 1.76 ( 95% CI 1.30-2.38) for those born at 35-36 weeks, relative to those born full-term (37-42 weeks). A similar but slightly weaker trend was observed for the association between preterm birth and antiepileptic drug prescription. These associations persisted after excluding individuals with cerebral palsy, inflammatory diseases of the CNS, cerebrovascular disease, and brain tumors. Conclusions: These findings suggest that preterm birth, including late preterm birth, is strongly associated with epilepsy in Swedish adults aged 25-37 years. This association was independent of fetal growth and was not mediated by cerebral palsy or other comorbidities. Neurology (R) 2011;77:1376-1382 (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Neurology
volume
77
issue
14
pages
1376 - 1382
publisher
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
external identifiers
  • wos:000295539000014
  • scopus:82255182343
  • pmid:21968843
ISSN
1526-632X
DOI
10.1212/WNL.0b013e318231528f
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3fb20115-7ae6-4fd7-9570-d3e74e34f647 (old id 2179063)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:24:51
date last changed
2022-03-21 23:56:16
@article{3fb20115-7ae6-4fd7-9570-d3e74e34f647,
  abstract     = {{Objective: To determine whether preterm birth is associated with epilepsy in a national cohort of adults aged 25-37 years. Methods: We conducted a national cohort study of 630,090 infants born in Sweden from 1973 through 1979, including 27,953 born preterm (&lt; 37 weeks), followed from 2005 to 2009 for 1) hospitalization for epilepsy and 2) outpatient and inpatient prescription of antiepileptic drugs. Epilepsy diagnoses and medication data were obtained from all hospitals and pharmacies throughout Sweden. Results: We found a strong association between preterm birth and epilepsy that increased by earlier gestational age. After adjusting for fetal growth and potential confounders, odds ratios for hospitalization for epilepsy were 4.98 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.87-8.62) for those born at 23-31 weeks, 1.98 (95% CI 1.26-3.13) for those born at 32-34 weeks, and 1.76 ( 95% CI 1.30-2.38) for those born at 35-36 weeks, relative to those born full-term (37-42 weeks). A similar but slightly weaker trend was observed for the association between preterm birth and antiepileptic drug prescription. These associations persisted after excluding individuals with cerebral palsy, inflammatory diseases of the CNS, cerebrovascular disease, and brain tumors. Conclusions: These findings suggest that preterm birth, including late preterm birth, is strongly associated with epilepsy in Swedish adults aged 25-37 years. This association was independent of fetal growth and was not mediated by cerebral palsy or other comorbidities. Neurology (R) 2011;77:1376-1382}},
  author       = {{Crump, Casey and Sundquist, Kristina and Winkleby, Marilyn and Sundquist, Jan}},
  issn         = {{1526-632X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{14}},
  pages        = {{1376--1382}},
  publisher    = {{Lippincott Williams & Wilkins}},
  series       = {{Neurology}},
  title        = {{Preterm birth and risk of epilepsy in Swedish adults}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e318231528f}},
  doi          = {{10.1212/WNL.0b013e318231528f}},
  volume       = {{77}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}