The Risk Factors in Children with Simple and Complex Febrile Seizures: An Epidemiological Study

Background Febrile seizure is the most common seizure disorders. Febrile seizure is divided into two groups of simple and complex seizures.  The aim of this epidemiological study was to assess the risk factors involved in the incidence of febrile seizures between the children referred to Besat hospital in the city of Sanandaj (Iran). Materials and Methods The present paper is a cross-sectional study performed on 334 children with 6-60 months of age hospitalized in Besat hospital in Sanandaj due to febrile seizures in 2014 and 2015. The data collection tool was a checklist including some information such as age, gender, final diagnosis and type of seizure, residential location, serum level of electrolytes and CBC. After collecting the data, description and analytical analysis were performed through SPSS version     20 software to assess the data. Results Among the 334 children (average age 22.4+ 12.8 months) hospitalized because of febrile        seizures, 57.5 present were boys and the majority of them were living in the urban areas (72.2‰). Also, 81 percent of the children were hospitalized due to simple febrile seizures and upper respiratory   tract infection (URTI) was the most common cause of febrile seizures with 42.8 percent. There was not seen any significant statistical association between the type of seizure and the variables of sex, residential location, age group and serum level of electrolytes (P> 0.05). However, the association between residential location and age group with the cause of febrile seizures was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Given that the results of this study indicated that URTI is the most common cause of febrile seizures among the children.

Keywords:

Children , febrile seizures , Iran , Risk factors