Prenatal exposure to cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee and the risk for febrile seizures.

OBJECTIVE

Febrile seizure is a common type of seizure in childhood, probably caused by both genetic and early environmental factors. Little is known about the effect of environmental factors that operate in prenatal life, although the fetal brain may be particular vulnerable as a result of extensive brain growth and differentiation in this period. We evaluated the association between prenatal exposure to cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee and the risk for febrile seizures in 2 population-based birth cohorts.

METHODS

The Aarhus Birth Cohort consisted of 25,196 children of mothers who were scheduled to deliver at Aarhus University Hospital (1989-1996). The Aalborg-Odense cohort consisted of 10,400 children of women who attended antenatal care in Odense or Aalborg (1984-1987). Both cohorts were linked with the Danish National Hospital Register and followed until December 1998 with a complete follow-up. We extracted from medical records additional information on febrile seizures in children in the Aarhus Birth Cohort who were born between 1989 and 1992.

RESULTS

We found a slightly increased risk for febrile seizures in children who were exposed to 10 or more cigarettes per day in the Aarhus Birth Cohort, but the corresponding association was weak in the Aalborg-Odense cohort. We found no association between maternal alcohol and coffee consumption and the risk for febrile seizures. The results were similar for simple and complex febrile seizures.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that prenatal exposure to low to moderate levels of alcohol and coffee has no impact on the risk for febrile seizures, whereas a modest smoking effect cannot be ruled out.