A retrospective study of febrile seizures among children admitted in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Background: Febrile convulsion is one of the commonest seizure disorders in children. Prevention of febrile convulsions is therefore desirable, and is of particular relevance in children with factors carrying a high risk of recurrence. Aim and objectives were to study the demographic profile and some risk factors of febrile seizures among children.Methods: Retrospective study was conducted at Pediatric department of Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore. Considering inclusion & exclusion criteria all children in the 6 months to 5-year age who were diagnosed as having febrile convulsion admitted during January 2018 to October 2019 were included in the study.Results: Total out of the 96 children 53 (55.2%) were boys and 43 (44.7%) were girls. 61% children were in the 1-3-year age group. Mean age of occurrence was 2.2 years (±1.5 years). In this study, 81.25% (78) of the patients had simple and 18.75% (18) had the complex form of febrile seizure. In our study, 61.4% (59) of affected children had positive family history of febrile seizure. Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) (22.9%) followed by upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) (20.8%) was the most common co-morbidity. 47.9% children were hospitalized for 1-3 days.Conclusions: Most of the children had a positive family history and the most common causative factor was Age, URTI, LRTI etc. are associated with febrile convulsion and these diseases can be managed effectively thereby reducing the occurrence of febrile convulsion.