Comparison between diazepam and phenobarbital in prevention of febrile seizure: clinical trial

ABSTRACT

Febrile convulsions [FC] are the most common convulsive events in childhood, occurring in 2-5% of children. About one third of these children will have a recurrence during a subsequent febrile infection. This sudden neurologic problem is extremely frightening and emotionally traumatic for parents so some physicians try to prevent recurrence of FC by prescribing different drugs. This is a randomized clinical trial in 85 healthy children, aged 6 months to 5 years, who were not treated before. These children received randomly either oral diazepam [0.33 mg/kg/TDS for two days during febrile illness] or continuous oral Phenobarbital [3-5mg/kg /24 h]. Ultimately 64 patients completed the study and were followed up for an average of 13 months [12-18 months]. The rate of recurrence of febrile seizure was 18.2% in diazepam group and 32.3% in Phenobarbital group; the difference is not statistically significant [p=0.16]. There was no significant difference between intermittent oral diazepam and continuous oral Phenobarbital for FC prevention