Clinical characteristics of febrile seizures and risk factors of its recurrence in chiang mai university hospital

Abstract

© 2017, ASEAN Neurological Association. All rights reserved. Background & Objectives: Febrile seizures are the most common convulsive disorder in children under 5 years old. Among these children, some develop recurrent febrile seizures. The objective of this study was to describe clinical characteristics of children with febrile seizures and to identify risk factors for developing recurrent seizures. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from January 2004 to December 2013 in Chiang Mai University Hospital. Infants and children between 6 months and 5 years of age who were diagnosed with febrile seizures were included in this study. Clinical characteristics of children and all factors associated with seizure recurrence were extensively reviewed using electronic medical records. Results: There were 335 cases included for analysis. The mean age at onset of febrile seizures was 1.85 ± 0.95 years; 64.78 % were males. Among 261 cases who presented with first episode of febrile seizures, 52 cases (19.92%) developed recurrent febrile seizures. Respiratory tract infections were the most frequent etiology of febrile illnesses. Younger age at onset and family history of febrile seizures were statistically significant predictors of developing recurrent febrile seizures (p = <0.001 and 0.02, respectively). After adjusting the confounding variables, similar findings were found from the multiple logistic regression analysis (p = 0.003 and 0.01 respectively). Conclusion: In this study, younger age at onset of first febrile seizure and family history of febrile seizures were found to increase the risk of the recurrence of febrile seizures.