Abstract
Background and objectives: Febrile convulsions (FC) is the most common seizure disorder during childhood, and a common cause of admission in Tabriz Children's Hospital. Objective: of this study was to determine epidemiologic, clinical and laboratory features of first febrile convulsions in children admitted in hospital.
Materials and Methods: We performed a prospective study of all children age between one month and 12 years, with a diagnosis of febrile convulsion admitted to the hospital during one year. From Dec 2003 to Nov 2004 analysis was made by X2, the level of significance was set at P<0.05.
Results: Peak incidence of FC was in second year of life. There was a preponderance of boys. The most common cause of fever in our patients, were upper respiratory tract infections (48.2%) and gastroenteritis (32.1%). In 93.4 cases seizure occurred within 24 hours of the onset of fever. Antipyretic measures were not effective in preventing seizures. The average length of seizures was 5.7 min and the duration of seizures was less than 15 min in almost 94.1% while in 3.8% they lasted 30 min or more (Febrile status epileplicus). Simple FC occurred in 75.2%, complex FC in 24.8% (recurrence during 24 hours in 18%, longer than 15 min in 5.3% and focal seizures affected only 1.4%). Age under one year was significantly with complex FC (P=0.042)
Conclusion: Results of This study show that epidemiological and clinical features of first FC are very similar to those in other countries except that there is lower incidence in focal FC. Age under one year is a risk factor for complex FC.