Publication: Study of Febrile Seizure among Hospitalized Children of a Tertiary Centre of Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nepal Medical Association
Abstract
Abstract:
Introduction: Febrile seizure is the commonest cause of seizure in children and appears mostly between 6-60 months of life. The objective of this study is to find out the prevalence of febrile seizure among hospitalized children of a tertiary centre of Nepal.
Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in a teaching hospital of central Nepal, from 2014 January to 2019 December. After obtaining ethical clearance from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 2019-038), clinical and demographic data was retrieved from patient record retrospectively and reviewed for completeness and accuracy; those fulfilling the definition of febrile seizure were enrolled in the study. Convenience sampling technique was used. The data was analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences Version 25. Point estimate is done at 95% Confidence Interval and frequency and proportion was calculated.
Results: Out of 4890 cases admitted during the study period, 214 (4.37%) (3.80%-4.94% at 95% Confidence Interval) children were diagnosed with febrile seizure. One hundred thirty one (62%) children had a simple febrile seizure. In majority of the cases, seizure lasted for less than 5 minutes; however, 10 (4.6%) of them presented with febrile status epilepticus, 111 (52%) children had generalised tonic seizure and upper respiratory tract infection was the commonest cause of fever.
Conclusions: Prevalence of febrile seizure is significant among hospitalized children and simple febrile seizure is the commonest type. A substantial number of children present in febrile status epilepticus, even though the duration of febrile seizure is brief in most of the cases.
Description
Ram Prasad Pokhrel
Department of Paediatrics, College of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0960-2190
Radha Bhurtel
Department of Nursing, College of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3286-9822
Kalpana Karmacharya Malla
Department of Paediatrics, College of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5179-4379
Love Kumar Shah
Department of Pediatrics, Janaki Medical College, Janakpur, Nepal.
Keywords
febrile seizure, fever, season, status epilepticus