Etiology and epidemiology of febrile seizure in Bandar Abbas pediatric hospital, 2001

Introduction: Febrile seizure is the most common seizure disorder during
childhood, with an excellent prognosis regardless of the treatment. Therefore a
serious underlying disease such as sepsis or bacterial meningitis each with a
seizure associated with fever must be carefully examined and ruled out.
Several subsequent studies have shown an incidence of febrile seizure of 3% to
9%. This study is designed to reveal the etiology and epidemiology of febrile
seizure in Bandar Abbas pediatric hospital.
Methods: All of the patients with febrile seizure admitted in Bandar Abbas
pediatric hospital during March - Feb 2001 were enrolled in this descriptive
study. Relation between etiology and other factors such as gender, age, type of
seizure was examined using Epinfo software.
Results: 181 patients laid in our study which was 2.6% of all 6768 hospital
admission during the study period. The patients age ranged from 4 to 96 months
(mean age 27 months). 61.3% of patients were males and 38.7% females. 83.4%
had simple febrile seizure and 16.6% had complex febrile seizure.
The most frequently identified cause of febrile seizure was gastroenteritis 34%,
upper respiratory tract infection 28.7%, the other causes included fever without
focus 13.8%, pneumonia 9.4% and acute otitis media 8.3%.
Conclusion: The etiology of febrile seizure can be variable in different parts of
the world and in various races. The most frequent cause of febrile seizure in our
study was gastroenteritis. High prevalence of gastroenteritis as a cause of febrile
seizure emphasizes the need for more cooperation between the city education
authorities and health centers.