ArticleAnnals of neurology2020
The "maternal effect" on epilepsy risk: Analysis of familial epilepsies and reassessment of prior evidence.
Article in Annals of neurology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epilepsy risk in offspring of affected parents; a cohort study of the "maternal effect" in epilepsy.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePrevious studies have observed that epilepsy risk is higher among offspring of affected women than offspring of affected men. We tested whether this "maternal effect" was present in familial epilepsies, which are enriched for genetic factors that contribute to epilepsy risk.
methodsWe assessed evidence of a maternal effect in a cohort of families containing ≥3 persons with epilepsy using 3 methods: (1) "downward-looking" analysis, comparing the rate of epilepsy in offspring of affected women versus men; (2) "upward-looking" analysis, comparing the rate of epilepsy among mothers versus fathers of affected individuals; and (3) lineage analysis, comparing the proportion of affected individuals with family history of epilepsy on the maternal versus paternal side.
resultsDownward-looking analysis revealed no difference in epilepsy rates among offspring of affected mothers versus fathers (prevalence ratio = 1.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.8-1.2). Upward-looking analysis revealed more affected mothers than affected fathers; this effect was similar for affected and unaffected sibships (odds ratio = 0.8, 95% CI = 0.5-1.2) and was explained by a combination of differential fertility and participation rates. Lineage analysis revealed no significant difference in the likelihood of maternal versus paternal family history of epilepsy.
interpretationWe found no evidence of a maternal effect on epilepsy risk in this familial epilepsy cohort. Confounding sex imbalances can create the appearance of a maternal effect in upward-looking analyses and may have impacted prior studies. We discuss possible explanations for the lack of evidence, in familial epilepsies, of the maternal effect observed in population-based studies. ANN NEUROL 2020;87:132-138.
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Registered trials
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