NEW YORK, Jun 10 (Reuters) -- Febrile convulsions in early childhood do not appear to affect intellect, academic performance, or behavior at age 10, according to British researchers.
Although febrile convulsions -- seizures associated with a high fever -- are common, occurring at least once in 2% to 4% of children under the age of 5, many parents fear that they may result in the development of epilepsy or mental retardation. Some reports have suggested a link between febrile convulsions and mental retardation and behavioral problems, but other studies have not found any evidence of this association.
In order to assess the effects of febrile convulsions on long-term development, Dr. Christopher M. Verity of Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, UK, and colleagues studied data collected in the prospective population-based Child Health and Education Study, which enrolled more than 14,000 children. Within this group, 398 children had a history of febrile convulsions.
At age 10, the children with febrile convulsions differed from the group as a whole on only 4 of 102 measures of academic, intellectual or behavioral development, a finding attributable to "chance" according to Verity's team. Moreover, "...there was no evidence that any of these differences was clinically or practically important."
The results were similar when children with simple and complex febrile convulsions were examined separately, according to the report in the June 11th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Complex febrile seizures were defined as those lasting longer than 15 minutes, affecting a particular part of the body, or occurring more than once per bout of fever.
The proportion of children who needed special education was the same in the group of children who had had febrile convulsions as in the group who had not, according to the report. But the researchers did find that 5 out of 67 (7.5%) children who had febrile convulsions in the first year of life needed special education compared with 4 out of 265 (1.5%) of those who experienced the fever-related seizures after their first year.
Verity and his team conclude that their findings "...should reassure both parents and physicians that the outlook is good for most children who have febrile convulsions." They say that the data reaffirm a suggestion by other researchers that the "best treatment for children with a first febrile seizure is education and reassurance for their parents."
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine 1998;338:1723-1728.
