Clinical, Epidemiological and Laboratory Characteristics of Patients with Febrile Convulsion

Abstract

Background: Febrile convulsion (FC) is the most common type of seizure that occurs in children aged 6-60 months. It occurs in two forms including simple and complex febrile seizure. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical, epidemiologic and laboratory features of patients admitted to Ali-ebne-Abitaleb hospital of Zahedan with febrile seizure in 2010-2011. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the patients with diagnosis of febrile seizure were the target population. We obtained patient’s data based on clinical examination, history and information registered in hospital medical files including demographic, clinical and laboratory findings. Results: During the study period, 160 children with febrile seizures and mean age of 26.2 ± 19.5 months were studied. Male to female ratio was 1.2:1. Ninety-nine (61.9%) children had simple seizures and 61 (38.1%) children had complex seizures. Thirty-one (19.4%) of the patients had family history of febrile seizures and family history of epilepsy was positive in 6.3% of cases. Ninety one percent of cases were born with normal vaginal delivery. Also, only 5 patients (3.1%) had less than 37 weeks of gestational age at birth. The mean rectal temperature of the patients was 38.5 ± 0.67 ºC. Gastroenteritis was the most common cause of fever in our patients. Conclusions: The highest frequency of FC was seen in younger than 20-month-old children. Except for the lower incidence of positive history of prematurity and higher prevalence of gastroenteritis, results of the present study are relatively similar to other studies.