THE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM DURING NORMAL 3RD TRIMESTER PREGNANCY AND 6 MONTHS POSTPARTUM

In 1942 Gibbs and Reid described a slowing of the electroencephalogram (EEG) at the end of a normal pregnancy. To the best of our knowledge this is the only report that addresses the modification of the EEG in normal pregnancy. We performed a spectral multichannel EEG analysis an d revealed no differences during third trimester pregnancy and six mon ths postpartum. Therefore EEG changes seen during pregnancy, which wer e previously regarded as 'subtle changes of pregnancy', may turn out t o be clinically relevant changes which indicate either pre-existing EE G dysfunction or EEG abnormalities in the context of a pregnancy-relat ed disorder.