Genetic influence on the clinical characteristics and outcome of febrile seizures—a retrospective study

Abstract

To assess the influence of the family history (FH) of epilepsy or febrile seizures (FSs) on the clinical presentation of FSs and on their outcome. We reviewed the charts of 482 children admitted to the Ste-Justine Hospital with FSs between 3 months and 6 years of age and followed for at least 5 years. Children with a positive FH of epilepsy (n=67) showed significantly more focal and recurrent FSs than those without such a FH. The risk of developing partial epilepsy (n=17) or generalized epilepsy (n=19) was significantly greater in children with focal or recurrent FSs, respectively. In children with focal FSs, only two out of 30 (6.7%) children with a negative FH of epilepsy developed partial epilepsy compared with four out of nine (44.4%) children with a positive FH. In children with recurrent FSs, as much as seven out of 34 (20.6%) children with a positive FH of epilepsy developed generalized epilepsy compared to only eight out of 161 (0.05%) of those with a negative FH. Nevertheless, when not taking into account the clinical presentation of FSs, the positive FH of epilepsy constituted a risk factor for developing generalized but not partial epilepsy. Finally, children with a positive FH of FSs (n=120) exhibited significantly more recurrent FSs than those without such a FH, but this did not modify the risk of epilepsy. The FH of FSs and/or epilepsy should be taken into account when evaluating the risk of FSs recurrence and of epilepsy.