Investigating the correlation between serum folic acid level and febrile seizures in children: A clinical study

Abstract

Introduction: Febrile seizure (FS) is a highly frequent presenting complaint in children. It is defined as a seizure that occurs in children between 6 to 60 months related to a fever of 38°C or more without any other explanatory causes of seizure such as evidence of central nervous system (CNS) infection or a previous seizure without fever. The aim od study is to evaluate mean folic acid serum levels in febrile children with or without seizures.Methods: The mean folic acid serum levels and demographic data of 100 children aged 6 to 60 months, admitted to the Ghaem Hospital of Mashhad, Iran in 2018-2019, were collected, where the patients with febrile seizure were considered as the case group and the febrile ones without seizure as the control group. The inclusion criteria were children aged 6 to 60 months with febrile seizures who were admitted to the pediatric ward. The exclusion criteria were having a past medical history of seizure, meningitis, or encephalitis.Results: There were 49 febrile convulsive children (cases) and 51 febrile children without a seizure (controls). The mean serum folic acid level was 7.07 and 9.89 ng/ml for cases and controls respectively (P-value < 0.001).Conclusion: Children with febrile seizures had significantly lower serum folic acid levels than febrile children without a seizure.