Unprovoked seizures in children with complex febrile convulsion; short-term outcome

Choi, Ji Yeon; Cheon, Eun Jung; Lee, Young Hyuk

Abstract

PURPOSE: Febrile convulsions (FC) were considered to be a benign seizure syndrome that is distinct from epilepsy. But it is thought that children with complex features i.e., partial or prolonged seizures or multiple episodes of FC would bear a higher risk of developing unprovoked seizures. The aim of this study is to look into the relative significance of each criteria that define complex febrile convulsions (CFC) as a predictor of subsequent epilepsy.
METHODS
All children were retrospectively identified for a febrile seizure through pediatric departments of the Konyang University Hospital. Information was collected from medical records and interviews with parents. Patients with abnormal neurological examinations at presentation were excluded.
RESULTS
This study was performed from March 2000 to December 2003. Sixty-three out of 314 children (20.0%) with febrile convulsion fulfilled the criteria for CFC and forty-four children of them have been followed for 12 months or more. Ten of these (23.2%) had unprovoked seizures for 14-62 months (median 34.2+/-11.6 months). The patients with partial FC showed a trend toward a higher risk (57.1%) of developing epilepsy than the patients with multiple or prolonged febrile convulsions (26.7%, 24.1% respectively).
CONCLUSION
We found that the partial feature of febrile convulsion is associated with subsequent epilepsy.