Febrile Seizures in Thalassemic Patients in Babylon Teaching Hospital for Maternity and Children

Febrile seizures are the most common seizures in children. Their incidence is (2-5 %). To date, thepathophysiology of febrile seizures is unknown. But several hypotheses have been supposed that itmay relate with plasma iron level. Such low risk in thalassemic patients whose plasma iron level is highcould give some clues to this hypothesis.Aim of the Study: Determine the risk of febrile seizure in thalassemic patients in comparism with thecorresponding control group.Patients and Methods: This case –control study was conducted on one hundred fifty patients withthalassemia major between six month and six years of age who were visit Babylon center for inheritedblood diseases in the Teaching hospital for maternity and children from April 2019 to January 2020.All medical records of thalassemic patients were thoroughly reviewed and the occurrence of febrileseizures are interviewed and compared with the control group .The children in the control group areneither thalassemic nor has iron deficiency anemia.Results: Febrile seizure was detected in one case of the thalassemic group (0.66%) versus six cases(4%) of the control group. The risk of febrile seizure in the control group was 6 times more than that inthe thalassemia group, which was statistically significant (P =0.036).Conclusion: The risk of febrile seizures in thalassemic patients was (0.16) that of the general childrenpopulation. Thus, iron overload may be a major factor involving the brain metabolism that preventsfebrile seizures.