Relationship between iron deficiency anemia and febrile seizures : a case–control study

Abstract EN

Introduction: Febrile seizure (FS) is a common convulsive disorder of childhood, which affects approximately 2%–5% of children aged 3–60 months.

The etiology of FSs is not clear.

Different etiological factors have been considered previously that include familial (genetic) factors, prenatal factors, acute illness, the degree of fever, and finally, anemia.

Relationship between iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and febrile convulsions in children has been seen in various studies.

Our study has also reported that IDA could be a risk factor for FS and can be considered as one of the modifiable risk factors that predisposes to FSs in children.

Methods: It was a case–control study.

A total of 150 (75 cases and 75 controls) were included between 6 months and 6 years who presented with febrile convulsion.

The controls included 75 children between the age group of 6 months and 6 years who presented with short duration of fever (<3 days) but without seizures.

Diagnostic criteria for FSs were based on the AAP clinical practice guidelines.

Complete blood count and serum ferritin were evaluated for all subjects.

Iron deficiency was diagnosed as per the WHO criteria (hemoglobin [Hb] value <11 g%, red cell distribution width of >15%, serum ferritin value <12 ng/ml, and red blood cell indices).

Results: The mean age of the study group was 27.16 ± 16.65 months, and in control group, it was 27.82 ± 15.33 months.

Mean Hb was 9.64 ± 1.54 in study group and 10.05 ± 1.45 in control group, mean corpuscular volume was 72.52 ± 4.94 in cases and 75.06 ± 3.94 in control.

Mean corpuscular Hb (MCH) was 25.36 in cases and 27.08 ± 1.90 in control group, MCH concentration 32.73 in cases and 34.63 in control.

Mean serum ferritin in Group A was 39.54 ± 24.55 and 51.29 ± 20.26 in control group which was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: In the present study, we found high incidence of IDA in patients with FSs (48%) as compared to controls (22%).

Serum ferritin level was also significantly lower in study group as compared to control group suggesting that children who had FS were more iron deficient than the controls.