A Demographic and Clinical Profile of the Children Admitted with Febrile Convulsion in the Pediatric Ward of General Hospital Sangli: A Descriptive Study

To know the demographic and clinical profile of febrile convulsion cases.

Study Design:- A descriptive study

Pediatric ward of General Hospital Sangli.

75 children admitted with febrile convulsion.

With the help of prestructured proforma

August 2000- July 2002

Data analyzed with percentages.

Out of 75 cases 68(90.66%) were between the age group of 7 months and 4 years, out of which 58 cases (77.33%) were seen between age group of 7 months and 3 years, with male: female ratio is 1.27: 1. Only 11 (14.66%) cases have positive family history of febrile/afebrile seizures. Only 7 out of 75 cases (9.33%) were having perinatal risk factors. 1st born child suffered greater than subsequent siblings. The commonest cause of fever was upper respiratory tract infection followed by lower respiratory tract infection, gastroenteritis and others were measles, otitis media, pyoderma and urinary tract infection. Rectal temperature was in range of 100–103° F (90.65%) in majority of the cases. Febrile convulsions were predominantly of generalized type. The majority of patients 61 (81.33%) had a single convulsion within 24 hours of fever and 57(76%) cases had typical seizures.

Most of the febrile convulsion cases were below the age of 3 years. The occurrence of febrile convulsion was seen to be declining in male in age group 6 months- 4 years and in female it was seen in age group of 6 months - 2 years. Very few cases had positive family history of febrile convulsion. Pregnancy related and perinatal risk factors were minimum in cases. Commonest causes of fever among cases were RTI, Gastroenteritis, Otitis media and Measles. Maximum number of cases had core temperature of 100–103°F. Most of the cases had generalised convulsions. Majority of the cases had single episode of convulsion with typical type of convulsions.