Febrile Seizures in Children: A Review

Cureus. 2022 Nov 14;14(11):e31509. doi: 10.7759/cureus.31509. eCollection 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Fever-induced seizures are referred to as febrile seizures (FSs). The most prevalent kind of epilepsy and neurological illness in infants and young children is FS. With a high occurrence seen between the ages of 12 and 18 months, they frequently affect children aged six months to five years. FS is a benign condition that seldom results in brain damage. Nevertheless, they cause stress and emotional anguish for the parents, who may believe that the death of their child is going to occur during the seizure. Lately, a more broad-based phrase has been used, fever-associated seizures or epilepsy that includes simple, complicated, and extended FSs. These are the three different kinds of FSs. Febrile status epilepticus is a subgroup of complex FS. The other kinds of FSs are FS plus, Dravet syndrome, hereditary epilepsy with FS plus, and febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome. The most frequent, brief, and generalized simple FSs have a greater likelihood of causing temporal lobe epilepsy than complex FSs. These seizures are linked to the release of inflammatory mediators like interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor, which are well-known fever inducers. This article details the factors that contribute to the occurrence of FSs, epidemiology, pathophysiology, evaluation, and management of the child.

Keywords: dravet syndrome; epileptogenesis; febrile seizures; febrile-associated seizures or epilepsy (fase); temporal lobe epilepsy.

Publication types

  • Review