A Comparative Study of Febrile Seizures and Febrile Convulsions Associated With Mild Gastroenteritis

Children presenting with complex febrile seizures (FS) have an increased risk of developing epilepsy. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of complex seizures in children presenting with FS and those with both convulsions associated with mild gastroenteritis (CwG) and fever.

Children admitted to our Pediatric Emergency Department between January 2017 and April 2019 with seizures were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Patients were grouped according to the etiology as FS and febrile CwG. FS classification criteria of simple FS and complex FS was applied to both groups to allow a comparison between them. Prevalence ratios (PRs) of complex seizures, estimated through a log binomial model, were used to compare the occurrence of complex seizures between the two groups, using the FS group as reference category.

A total of 294 patients were enrolled: 231 with FS and 63 with febrile CwG. Complex seizures occurred in 31 patients with FS (13.4%) and 21 patients (33.3%) with febrile CwG. The PR of complex seizures was 2.48 (95% confidence interval, 1.54 to 4.01).

Children with febrile CwG showed a higher rate of complex seizures when compared with those with FS.