Long-term outcome in children with temporal lobe seizures. II: Marriage, parenthood and sexual indifference.

One-hundred unselected children with clinical and EEG evidence of temporal lobe seizures were followed into adult life. Data related to marriage and reproduction are analysed. Female survivors, if not totally handicapped, are nearly all married; surviving males who are not totally handicapped more often remain single. Early remission of seizures in males is associated with marriage: seizures continuing through adolescence are associated with sexual appetitive indifference. The female probands have produced children at a rate three times greater than the male probands. The findings have implications for understanding the development of male secual appetite. The epidemiology and genetics of these forms of seizures must take account of much greater fitness on the distaff side of the pedigree. The likelihood of marriage and parenthood would appear to rest on a few biological factors usually recognisable before the end of childhood.