Psychiatric comorbidities, sexual health and neurodevelopmental outcomes of offspring in men with epilepsy

•First study to examine neurodevelopmental outcomes of offspring of men using ASM.•ASM use does not alter conception time, prematurity rates or offspring birth weight.•ASM use in fathers showed a trend of delayed developmental milestones in offspring. There is a paucity of data in the literature specific to men with epilepsy on anti-seizure medication (ASM). The current study investigated the time to conception as well as the gestational and the neurodevelopmental outcomes of offspring of men with epilepsy on ASM compared to controls. Additionally, the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities, and measures of sexual performance in males with and without epilepsy were analyzed. A total of 450 male patients with and without epilepsy at one hospital were provided questionnaires to determine demographic characteristics, epilepsy history, type of ASM at the time of conception, comorbidities and sexual health. Time to conception, fertility methods and offspring birth and developmental history born to males with and without epilepsy was recorded. Survey data was evaluated using Student’s t-test for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. Odds ratio (OR) were calculated to determine associations between the measured data. After matching for age, we analyzed a total of 110 males with epilepsy and 110 without epilepsy. In the epilepsy group there was a higher rate of psychiatric comorbidities such as major depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and suicidal ideation when compared to the control group (N = 110; OR 3.39; 95% IC: 1.87–6.13, p 0.05). The present study suggests that men with epilepsy have an increased incidence of psychiatric comorbidities, and altered sexual performance, specifically erectile dysfunction, when compared with men without epilepsy. There was no statis