Are hormones responsible for the onset of seizures in female epilepsy patients? Research presented on Dec. 2 at the 2017 American Epilepsy Society (AES) annual meeting indicates that a dramatic increase in hormones associated with puberty may also drive the seizure activity.

Teenage girl. (Source: Pixnio)

An analysis of 1100 women age 18 to 47 in national epilepsy registry found that 49% of them experienced their first seizure in the eight-year span of puberty that starts two years before menarche and continues for the six years after menarche, 2.5 times the rate predicted by chance. Eight percent of the women had their first seizures the same year as their first menstrual period, 400% higher than chance would indicate.

“The levels of some hormones in the blood increase 10-fold during this time of life, including neuroactive steroids that affect the brain and make a seizure more likely,” Andrew G. Herzog, MD, MSc, senior author of the study and director of the Harvard Neuroendocrine Unit of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said in a press release.

The researchers explained that in the first two years after menarche in young women, about half of their cycles do not result in ovulation. In those cycles, women only produce estradiol, which increases the risk of convulsive seizures, whereas during cycles with ovulation, they produce both estradiol and progesterone, which reduces seizure risk.

Boys also have a higher rate of seizure onset during puberty, according to Dr. Herzog.