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Role of Iron Deficiency Anaemia in First Febrile Seizures in Six Months to Six Years of Age at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Southern India
SC17-SC20
Correspondence
Dinendraram Ketireddi,
Gf-1, Rajanarasimha Nilayam, Opp. PNB Bank, Chinabondilipuram, Balaga, Srikakulam-532001, Andhra Pradesh, India.
E-mail: dinendraram@gmail.com
Introduction: Febrile Seizures (FS) are the most common neurological disorders among infants and young children, occurring in 2%-5% of children younger than five years of age. Iron deficiency is reported as a commonest micronutrient deficiency, that has been associated with FS.
Aim: To find out the cause of fever and the role of Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA) and its outcome in first FS in six months to six years of age.
Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based prospective observational study, conducted in the Department of Paediatrics at King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. The duration of the study was one year and seven months, from December 2019 to July 2021. A total of 130 children (six months-six years) were included in the study. A total of 65 cases had a febrile seizure and the rest 65 controls had a history of Febrile Illness (FI) without seizures. Anaemia was defined as the decrease of Haemoglobin (Hb) <11 gm%. Among the Red Blood Cells (RBC) indices Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) <70 femtolitres (fL), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH) <27 picograms (pg), plasma ferritin <12 μg/dL, and serum ferrous <60 μg/dL, Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) >450 μg/dL, transferrin <250 mg. Discrete variables are expressed as counts (%) and compared using the Chi-square test, quantitative variables were expressed as mean and Standard Deviation (SD) and compared using t-test and Statistical significance was set at p-value <0.05. Analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0.
Results: The mean age of the study participants (cases) was 2.57±1.5 years for cases and 2.56±1.35 years for controls. In the present study, male:female ratio was 1.24:1. In the present study, positive family history of seizures is an important risk factor for FS. The observations came 43 (66.2%) cases were IDA with FS 22 (33.8%) cases, were, with only FS 23 (35.4%) of controls were, with IDA and FI 42 (64.6%) of controls with the FI, which is statistically significant, p-value=0.001.
Conclusion: The IDA is one of the major risk factors for FS in the paediatric age group. Early identification and treatment of iron deficiency may prove helpful in preventing FS in paediatric patient.