Febrile convulsions in children – myths, facts, experiences

Czech version

Authors: Veronika Kučeravá ¹; Gabriel Kolvek ¹
Authors‘ workplace: Klinika detí a dorastu, Lekárska fakulta, Univerzita Pavla Jozefa Šafárika a Detská fakultná nemocnica Košice
Published in: Čes-slov Pediat 2025; 80 (2): 78-82.
Category: Original Papers
doi: https://doi.org/10.55095/CSPediatrie2024/063

Overview

Introduction: Febrile seizures (FS) cumulatively affect approximately 2-5% of children. According to most guidelines, complicated and recurrent simplex FS are indicated for hospitalization and further diagnostic workup. In the case of a stable condition in a child (over 18 months) after simple FK, there is no reason to hospitalize or extend the diagnosis, in children under 18 months observation is recommended until neuroinfection is ruled out. The aim was to compare published recommendations with the reality of practice.

Material and methods: Studied sample consisted of 66 children with FS hospitalized over 12 months at the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine of P. J. Safarik University and Children Teaching Hospital in Košice. Patients were divided according to clinical status and course. The management was compared with international recommendations in order to verify the validity of examinations (electroencephalography, EEG) and hospitalization itself.

Results: In 14 cases, the reason for admission was a justified neurological indication (complicated FS n=5 or recurrent simplex convulsions n=9). In cases of first simple FS 11 cases were identified (16% of the entire set) where a stable child with a low risk of complications was also hospitalized. During hospitalization, EEG was carried out in up to 75% of children (n=39) from the subgroup of first simple FS. None of them had abnormal EEG findings.

Conclusions: The study shows the overuse of the EEG examination, which is not justified in the case of simple FS. Electroencephalographic and neuropediatric examination is recommended only in cases of complicated and recurrent simple FS. The data confirm the benign nature of FS and underline the importance of following evidence-based medical practices to rationalize and optimize health care. Hospitalization of children with uncomplicated FS is justified only if diagnosis and treatment of associated comorbidity is necessary (significant dehydration, etc.) or if neuroinfection cannot be clinically excluded due to young age.

Keywords:

Electroencephalography – Diazepam – febrile seizures – defensive

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