Prognosis and Risk Factors in Febrile Convulsions: A Prospective Study of 150 Children in Kuwait

Abstract

One hundred and fifty children with febrile convulsions (FC) were followed up for 3–10 years. They were divided into two groups: group A consisted of 120 children whose disorder was under control, and group B 30 patients in whom the disorder was not under control. Risk factors for uncontrolled FC and later development of epilepsy were looked into. In group A, 8 patients (6.6%) developed epilepsy, while another 3 (2.5%) had a single afebrile seizure. In group B, 10 (33.3%) children developed epilepsy, while 1 (3.3%) had a single afebrile seizure. The difference in the later occurrence of epilepsy between the two groups was statistically significant.

Genetics and environmental risk factors associated with febrile seizures

“…Overall, our findings are in agreement with other studies which showed a strong evidence of a positive family history as a risk factor for febrile seizure [3,[7][8][9][10][11][12]15]. A study from the United States found a family history of febrile seizure to be a very strong risk factor for having febrile seizure and 25% of their cases had a family history in the first degree of relatives [3].…”

“…Our findings clearly indicate that the first incidence of febrile seizure in UAE children manifest earlier than has been reported from other countries. The male predominance (55.7%) in this study was similar to other reported studies [2,4,7,11,13,14]. The male gender was found to be a risk factor for UAE children and similar results have been reported in the literature [7].…”

“…Farwell et al [4] had similar results with the majority of their cases found between 12 and 23 months of age. A recent study found that the peak incidence was between 13 and 24 months [11]. The present study revealed that the mean age at first febrile seizure was 15.23 months.…”

“…This is similar to our results where 21.4% had a family history of febrile seizures. In Kuwait, the two groups did not differ significantly in respect to a family history of seizures and epilepsy [11]. In Saudi Arabia 37% of cases had a family history of febrile seizures [12] in addition to a history of febrile seizures and epilepsy in parents or siblings.…”

The Role of Human Herpesvirus Type-6 (HHV-6) in Convulsions Seen in Children at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra

“…Various researches point to the fact that age is a risk factor for convulsion [21] [24]. In the current study, peak incidence of convulsion was found in the age group 0 -12 months.…”