Does the risk in offspring depend on the type of epilepsy in the parent?
Certain clinical features of epilepsy do appear to be associated with differences in the risk for seizures in offspring. Risk for unprovoked seizures is higher in offspring of parents with onset of epilepsy before 20 years of age than in offspring of those with later ages of onset (9 per cent vs. 3 per cent). Risk is also higher in offspring of parents with a history of absence seizures (9 per cent) than in offspring of those with other generalized (3 per cent) or partial (5 per cent) seizures. Finally, higher risks have been reported in offspring of a proband with idiopathic epilepsy, or of a proband with an effected parent or sibling. Despite the increased risk for seizures in offspring of parents with epilepsy, patients may be reassured to find that the probability that a child will be unaffected is much higher than the probability that the child will have seizures. Even for patients in the highest risk categories (e.g., women with epilepsy, individuals with absence seizures, or ind
