Original ArticleRecurrence of febrile seizures in the respiratory season is associated with influenza A
Section snippets
Methods
A febrile seizure was defined as a seizure during a febrile illness without other neurologic conditions (eg, intracranial infection, history of unprovoked seizures, or chronic anti-epileptic medication) occurring in children between the age of 3 months and 5 years.15 Single, generalized FS lasting for 15 minutes or less with full neurologic recovery within 24 hours was scored as simple FS. FS either with focal features or with recurrence within 24 hours or of long duration (>15 minutes) was
Results
The majority of GPs in Friesland (267 of 303; 88%) participated in the study. A total of 241 GPs (79%) returned 8 or more notification cards. A total of 54 GPs returned fewer than 8 cards. Among these were 26 GPs (number of cards: mean, 5.2; range, 3 to 7) who notified at least one case with an FS (mean, 2.4; range, 1 to 5).
The size of the population at risk (children between 3 months and 5 years of age) was approximately 45,000. After correction for GP nonparticipation, the study cohort had a
Discussion
With a total observation period of 160,000 patient-years, this is one of the larger population-based studies on FS. Its findings show that the yearly peaks of FS occurring in the winter are substantially associated with influenza A virus activity. There was no clear association with any of the other respiratory viruses. For RSV infections, which show similar seasonal variation and higher incidence rates, compared with influenza A, there was a clear mismatch with the occurrence of FS. This
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Cited by (32)
Seasonal distribution of febrile seizure and the relationship with respiratory and enteric viruses in Korean children based on nationwide registry data
2019, SeizureCitation Excerpt :In China, the incidence of febrile seizures associated with influenza A infection was higher than that associated other respiratory viruses in a study of hospitalized children [29]. The rate of recurrent febrile seizure was also associated with influenza A infection [30]. In accordance with previous studies, we identified influenza virus infection as the most common viral infection associated with febrile seizures in winter.
Inpatient admission for febrile seizure and subsequent outcomes do not differ in children with vaccine-associated versus non-vaccine associated febrile seizures
2014, VaccineCitation Excerpt :FS affect 2–5% of the pediatric population [1]. Risk factors include febrile infections and some vaccinations [2–10], genetic factors, lower gestational age and low birth weight [1,11,12]. The long-term morbidity and mortality associated with FS is extremely low.
Exploring the risk factors for vaccine-associated and non-vaccine associated febrile seizures in a large pediatric cohort
2014, VaccineCitation Excerpt :Viral infections are very common in infants and young children and thus more frequently cause FS compared with bacterial infections. Certain viruses have been implicated more frequently than others [6–12]. As such, seasonal trends in the circulation of viral respiratory pathogens have been shown to coincide with seasonal variation in FS incidence [13–17].
Influenza-associated illness is an important contributor to febrile convulsions in Danish children
2012, Journal of InfectionCitation Excerpt :Forty to fifty percent of children with FC will have recurrent convulsions and are often managed by parents at home. It is conceivable that influenza may cause recurrent FC in the community.28 However, our dataset only included children admitted to hospital and pediatric emergency wards, and we are unable to quantify the burden of febrile convulsion in the community when influenza is circulating.
Signal identification and evaluation for risk of febrile seizures in children following trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in the Vaccine Safety Datalink Project, 2010-2011
2012, VaccineCitation Excerpt :Furthermore, we did not exclude cases noted to have concurrent infections in our analysis due to limited information about attributable causes. In order to minimize bias introduced by time varying confounders (e.g. age and seasonality) [29,33,59,60], we used a control interval that was close in time to the risk interval. In this study, we limited case finding to seizure visits in the inpatient and ED settings among influenza vaccinees, in order to provide an efficient and timely evaluation of the risk for febrile seizures, particularly since the PPV for seizures in the clinic setting has been previously shown to be low [15].
Supported by a grant from the Scientific Committee of the Medical Center Leeuwarden, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.