Summary:
Background and objective: Febrile Seizure (FS) is the
commonest seizure disorder among under 5 children. Iron
deficiency is a documented risk factor of FS and as the data
about the relationship of iron deficiency with FS among
Bangladeshi children is scanty, this study was undertaken to
assess the association of Serum Ferritin to simple FS.
Materials and Methods: This case control study was
conducted at the department of pediatrics of SSMC & Mitford
Hospital during 7th May 2011 to 6th January 2012 on
consecutive 120 children aged between five months to six
years who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were considered as
cases. Similar number of age and sex matched children
admitted with fever without seizures were taken as controls.
All candidates were gone through CBC with RBC indices
and serum ferritin and iron deficiency anemia was diagnosed
on the basis of mentioned tests.
Results: The results showed that majority of the cases were
male (66.7%) and most of them were between 13-24 months
of age (51.7%). Mean duration of convulsion was less than
5 minutes in 70% of the cases. Level of Hb was low in both
the cases and controls but the other RBC indices for anemia
like MCV, MCH, MCHC and serum ferritin were
significantly lower among the febrile seizures group in
comparison to controls. The chi-square test is indicated as a
significant difference between two groups and odds ratio is
6.0 which signifies that febrile seizure group were 6.0 times
more likely to develop iron deficiency anemia compared to
control group.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that children with febrile
seizure have association with iron deficiency anemia
(which is evident by microcytic hypochromic anemia and
low serum ferritin level) .This means low serum ferritin
and presence of anemia can serve as a risk factor for febrile
seizure in children.
Key words: Fever, simple febrile seizure, iron deficiency
anemia.
(J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2017; 35: 75-79)