Febrile convulsion in Libyan children

Febrile convulsions have been defined as any convulsion associated with fever of more than 38 oC without central nervous system infection in a child aged six months to five years. Febrile convulsion can be divided into two groups of simple and complex seizure. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of febrile convulsions in Libyan children and to investigate the associated risk factors related to this type of seizures in children. 120 cases of febrile convulsions with one day - 12 years old were collected during the period of April to August, 2022. A study has conducted in the Pediatrics Hospital in Bayda city, Libya about the prevalence of febrile convulsions in children, the data collected tool was a self-designed pre-tested validated questionnaire including general information such as age, gender, family history, admission to the hospital. In addition, data such as body temperature, recurrent of convulsion attack, the condition of hospital admission, discharge status, the treatment in-hospital and out-hospital. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive methods. Among the 120 children, the majority of the cases were aged between two years and five years old. Gender prevalence rate in this study was 55.0% in male and 97 of the children were hospitalized due to simple febrile seizure (80.8%), 92 of the cases with no family history to febrile convulsions (75.0%) and respiratory tract infections is the main cause of febrile convulsions. In conclusion, this study indicated that the respiratory tract infections is the most common cause of febrile convulsions among the Libyan children, however, a large sample study is needed to support this issue in Libya