A study of neurological disorders during pregnancy and puerperium

<b>Objective:</b> To study the clinical profile of patients presenting with primary and secondary neurological disorders during pregnancy and puerperium. <b> Materials and Methods:</b> This study was carried out at the Lady Harding Medical College between February 2004 and January 2005. All patients in pregnancy, postabortal or postpartum period attending to the Lady Harding Medical College between February 2004 and January 2005 and requiring neurological consultation were included in this study. Women with eclampsia were excluded. <b> Results: </b> There were 76 women included in this study (incidence of neurological disorders was 584 per 100,000 deliveries), with 46 cases of primary and 30 of secondary neurological disorders. The former included epilepsy (22), CNS infections (12), cerebrovascular disorders (9) [cerebral venous thrombosis - CVT (5), arterial infarctions (3) and haemorrhage (1)], CNS glioma (1), traumatic quadriparesis (1) and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (1). The latter included hepatic encephalopathy [HE] (28), enteric encephalopathy (1) and critical illness polyneuropathy (1). In patients of epilepsy, the seizures had an equitable distribution in the trimesters and post-partum period, were mainly of generalized type (77.27&#x0025;) and were controlled in the majority (90.9&#x0025;). No fetal congenital malformations were seen. Tubercular meningitis [TBM] (7), pyogenic meningitis (4) and viral encephalitis (1) were the CNS infections encountered and pregnancy outcome was good in most cases. All cases of CVT presented in the postpartum period with fever and neurological signs following home delivery. Outcomes included recovery (2), residual deficits (1), persisting seizures (1) and death (1). HE affected patients mainly during the latter half of pregnancy or the post-partum period and was associated with 64.3&#x0025; mortality. Death in HE showed correlation with grade of HE (<i> P</i> =0.007); Glasgow Coma Scale (<i> P</i> =0.006); Liver span (<i> P</i> =0.049); bilirubin (<i> P</i> =0.005) and retained foetus (<i> P</i> =0.044). <b> Conclusion:</b> The incidence of neurological disorders in pregnancy and puerperium was fairly high. Epilepsy and hepatic encephalopathy were the commonest primary and secondary neurological disorders, respectively.