Association of Different Clinical Events in Febrile Seizure Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Febrile seizure is the most common seizure disorder encountered in pediatric practice. It is always accompanied by fever, but any other clinical information has not been established regarding this.Clinical profile is important for diagnosis, management and parent counseling about this illness of extremely favorable prognosis.Febrile seizures are classified as either simple or complex. Simple febrile seizures consist of a brief tonic-clonic convulsion lasting <10 minutes which occurs only once within a 24-hour period. Conversely, complex febrile seizures last more than 10-15 minutes, focal and can occur more than once over a 24-hour period. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to observe the effects of different clinical events on the onset of febrile seizure. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Uttara Adhunic Medical college Hospital, Uttara, Dhaka during a 6-month period of November 2010 to April 2011. The study included 100 patients of febrile seizure according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Detailed history, through clinical examination, and occasionally appropriate investigations were done to support or to exclude other diagnosis and also for associated illness. Result: Out of 100 patients, 56 were female and 44 were male, with male female ratio of 1:1.27. As a whole 39% of children had first febrile convulsions below 12 months of age and 61% above 12 months of age. Majority of febrile convulsions occurred in first two years of life. The cause of febrile illness was respiratory tract infection in 62%, Acute gastroenteritis in 18% and urinary tract infection in 6% cases, in 14% cases no specific systemic cause found. Complex seizure occurred in 14% cases, and remaining 86% had simple seizures. Conclusion: Incidence of febrile seizure was slightly more in girls compared to boys, and girls tend to suffer at a bit earlier age. The disease poses risk of recurrence. Acute respiratory tract infection had significant relation with severity of seizure, and the prevalence of complex seizure was much higher in acute gastroenteritis patients compared to other illnesses. No significant association was found between this disease and any antenatal, natal, post-natal or childhood adverse events.