Risk Factors of Recurrent Febrile Convulsion / 대한소아신경학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Febrile convulsion (FC) is the most common type of seizure disorder during childhood. The most frequent sequale after the first FC is the recurrence of another FC. A number of risk factors associated with the recurrence have been identified. We evaluated the factors associated with the recurrence of FC. METHOD: The recurrence rates of FC by the predictive factors of recurrence were retrospectively evaluated in a cohort of 214 Korean children who were admitted to the Pediatric Depatment of the Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, from January 1996 to December 1997. RESULT: The overall recurrence rate of FC was 56.1% and the cumulative rates of the recurrent cases by intervals between the initial onset and recurrence were 52.5% by 6 months, 82.5% by 12 months, and 89.2% by 24 months. When the onset of the first FC occurred less than 12 months of age, the recurrence rate (66.1%) was significantly higher than that of the other age groups of the onset (p<0.05). There were no differences in the recurrence rate by the other predictive factors-durations of the initial FC, seizure type of the initial FC, the recurrence during the first 24 hours after the initial FC, and the family histories of FC or epilepsy. CONCLUSION: We can conclude that the recurrence of FC statistically correlated with the age at onset, especially less than 12 months old. And we recommend that it may be necessary to prophylactically treat recurrence of FC if the first FC occurred at less than 12 months of age.