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Febrile seizures more common in preterm infants, those assigned postnatal corticosteroids
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A prospective study in Taiwan reported that preterm infants had a higher rate of febrile seizures than infants born after 32 weeks and that postnatal corticosteroid treatment was associated with greater susceptibility to these seizures.
“The present study is the first to focus specifically on [febrile seizures (FS)] in a population of children born very preterm,” Yi-Fang Tu, MD, PhD, of the pediatrics department at National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Taiwan, and colleagues wrote in Pediatrics. “Our study revealed a high cumulative FS incidence of 6.1% in children born very preterm.”
FS occurs in 2% to 5% of all children aged younger than 5 years, the researchers wrote, and previous studies have shown that maternal illness, low birth weight as well as perinatal complications increase the risk for FS.
To assess FS in children at age 5 years, the investigators performed a prospective study of 575 preterm infants admitted to NICUs from June 2001 to December 2009 in southern Taiwan. Preterm was defined as a birth weight less than 1,500 g and a gestational age younger than 32 weeks.
Tu and colleagues found that 6.1% of preterm children developed FS. The FS group had a significantly higher rate of postnatal corticosteroid treatment than non-FS children, after adjusting for confounders (OR = 5.4; 95% CI, 1.9-15.8). In addition, children with FS who received postnatal corticosteroid therapy had a lower mean body temperature during their first FS attack than those who did not receive postnatal corticosteroids (38.6°C vs. 39.2°C; P = .034).
“A long-term follow-up study of FS with a larger sample of children born very preterm is necessary to validate our results,” the researchers wrote. – by Will Offit
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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