Etiological Evaluation of Convulsions in Children between 1 Month to 5 Years of Age in Tertiary Care Hospital, Guntur.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Seizure is a common problem evaluated inpediatric emergency department. The different causes ofseizures are febrile seizures, CNS infections, metabolic,developmental defects, traumatic brain injury, vascularaccidents, brain tumors and idiopathic or epilepsy. Currentresearch aimed to study the etiology of convulsions in childrenbetween 1 month to 5 years of age admitted in pediatricward, Government General Hospital, Guntur. To assess thecommon incidence of convulsions in children of age 1 to 5years admitted to pediatric ward, Department of Pediatrics,Government General Hospital, Guntur.Material and methods: Our study was retrospective,descriptive study. 100 cases admitted to pediatric ward,Government General Hospital, Guntur with convulsions in theage group of 1 month to 5 years during the period of July 2018and April 2019. Study was done by detailed history, throughphysical examination and relevant investigations includingcomplete blood counts, serum electrolytes, serum glucose,serum calcium, CSF analysis, EEG and neuroimaging (CT/MRI brain) studies. Variables recorded were demographics,clinical presentation, laboratory investigations, EEG andneuroimaging.Results: The most common cause of seizures in our study wasfebrile seizures (32%). About 24% cases were due to epilepsy(idiopathic or unprovoked) and 33% cases were symptomaticseizures of various causes like CNS infection, metabolic,traumatic, vascular etc.Remaining 11% were due to othermiscellaneous causes.Conclusion: This was the hospital based retrospective,descriptive study to know the etiology of convulsions inchildren between 1 month to 5 years. Convulsions in childrencan be due to various underlying pathology. In our study mostcommon cause of convulsions was febrile seizures, followedby epilepsy and symptomatic seizures of infective etiology ofCNS, viral encephalitis being the most common.