[Causes of epilepsy in children and possibilities of its prevention].

A seven year follow-up of an unselected group of 1964 children served for establishing the incidence and causes of epilepsy development. The analysis of the health state of the parents, fetal life and birth of this group of patients and a similar analysis of 576 epileptic children treated at the Department of Neurology, Medical Academy in Gdańsk demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between the incidence of epilepsy and the course of pregnancy and labour. It was found that all harmful factors acting on the fetal brain create a specific predisposition to seizure responses of the brain, either spontaneous (epilepsy) or provoked by other factors (e.g. fever induced seizures). Discussing the possibility of epilepsy prevention the author stresses the necessity of reducing the number of pregnancy and labour complications by raising the standard of care of pregnant women and women in labour.