Febrile Seizure in Children Attending a Tertiary Care Centre in Western Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding a child with any episode of febrile seizure is important so that special attention could be given. The objective of this study was to find the prevalence of febrile seizure in children attending a tertiary centre in western Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in a tertiary care centre at the department of Pediatrics after taking approval from the Institutional Review Committee. Study was conducted among the children presented with febrile seizure from 18th October 2017 to 12th April 2020. Patient files were retrospectively reviewed. Convenience sampling method was used. Data and descriptive analysis were done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentage for binary data. Results: Of the total 4701 admitted children during a study period, 217 (4.61%) (3.41-5.81 at 95% Confidence Interval) children had febrile seizure. Out of them, 154 (70.9%) male and 63 (29.1%) female with 168 (77.4%) simple and 49 (22.6%) complex febrile seizure. The mean age of presentation was at 23.2±13.61 months whereas mean age for male and female were 22.99±13.86 months and 23.73±13.09 months respectively. Recurrent febrile seizure noted in 68 (31.3%) children and fever in half the cases 110 (50.7%) was caused by Upper Respiratory Tract Infection. Conclusions: Simple febrile seizure was more common and the peak age of presentation was in the second year of life and more commonly in male. One third of febrile seizures were recurrent and half the children had upper respiratory tract infection as the most common etiology of fever.

Febrile Seizures among Children Admitted to the Department of Paediatrics of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

“…8 A study conducted in a tertiary care centre in Western Nepal reported the prevalence of febrile seizure in children to be 4.61% which was lower when compared to our study. 7 A study conducted in India found hyponatremia in 37.5% of the total febrile seizure cases similar to our study. 9 A study conducted in Karnataka among cases of febrile seizure found similar results.…”

Diagnósticos retrasados y administración de ondansetron en el tratamiento de los vómitos en urgencias pediátricas

“…La convulsión febril simple se presentó como diagnóstico retrasado, asociado a infección viral similar a lo reportado en otro estudio y no parece en esta situación que la consulta previa haya influido en (17) la evolución . Sin embargo, la potencial omisión de una infección del SNC en un paciente que consulta por fiebre y vómitos obliga a extremar el alerta en la consulta inicial.…”

Assessing Iron Deficiency as Risk Factor for Febrile Seizures in Children Between Six Months and Five Years of Age

“…These seizures are usually benign and self-limiting but may be associated with an increased risk for the development of epilepsy in later life, especially if the seizures are complex (Jongruk et al, 2022). While the exact pathophysiology of febrile seizures is unclear, a number of factors and features are reported to be associated with their occurrences, such as a family history of febrile seizures, recent vaccinations, and the deficiency of certain minerals (Duffy et al, 2017;Shrestha et al, 2021). Iron is an essential nutrient required for synthesizing hemoglobin and normal brain development and function (McCann et al, 2020).…”