Assessing the prevalence distribution of abnormal laboratory tests in patients with simple febrile seizure.

BACKGROUND

Febrile seizure is an important issue in pediatric practice. Even some pediatricians do not have a proper approach to febrile seizure, making the sick child undergo complex laboratory tests or invasive procedures or even long-term treatment with anticonvulsant drugs. In spite of multiple studies, many controversies have still remained about the significance of febrile seizure. The goal of this study is to assess the prevalence distribution of routinely requested laboratory tests results in simple febrile seizure.

METHODS

In a descriptive study, 549 patients with simple febrile seizure were studied. The routine lab tests including complete blood count, electrolyte, urine analysis, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis had already been performed for all patients and the results had been recorded in their medical data. These results were collected and statistically analyzed through SPSS software.

RESULTS

About 58.7% of our cases were male. Most of the cases were 12-24 months old and the mean body temperature of them was 38.2°C. 99.3% of blood sugar tests, 98% of blood calcium tests, 100% and 99.5% of sodium, and potassium tests, respectively, 100% of blood creatinine, 96.9% of blood urea nitrogen, and 99.1% of urine analysis tests were normal. CSF analysis was done in only 49 cases and the results were normal in all of them.

CONCLUSIONS

The percentage of abnormal laboratory test results was not statistically significant in febrile seizure and shows that performing all these tests in all patients with simple febrile seizure as routine is not necessary.