Abuhaimed Alanoud A, Alghamdi Nawaf A, Alhussin Ghadah I, Alduhaimi Ghadah S, Othman Fatmah, Baarmah Duaa M, Alkhalaf Hamad A
Department of Pediatrics, King Abdullah Specialist Children's Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
J Family Community Med. 2025 Jan-Mar;32(1):21-27. doi: 10.4103/jfcm.jfcm_10_24. Epub 2025 Jan 17.
Febrile convulsions (FCs) are the most common type of seizures in children. They usually occur between the ages of 6 months and 5 years and affect 2%-5% of children worldwide. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children who have been diagnosed with FCs and admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh.
The study included pediatric patients aged between 3 months and 5 years who presented to the emergency department of King Abdullah Specialist Children's Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and were admitted to hospital with FC diagnosis during 2015 to 2021. The hospital's electronic medical records system was reviewed to obtain patients' information on age, gender, clinical characteristics, laboratory investigations, length of hospital stay, and outcome. Data was analyzed using Stata 12; Chi-square test was used to determine association between categorical variables, while t-test or Mann-Whitney U test compared continuous data between two groups.
A total of 247 children with FC diagnoses were included in the analysis; 0.4% of pediatric patients were admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of FC. Most of the patients (77%) convulsions were triggered by upper respiratory tract infections and median duration of the convulsion episode was 4 min; 55% of the patients had a simple FC, and 40% had recurrence of FCs. Developmental delays were more common in children with recurrent FCs (15%) compared to children who had only one episode of convulsion (2.7%) [ < 0.001].
During the study period, 0.4% of pediatric patients were admitted to hospital with FC diagnoses. Larger multicenter studies are needed to evaluate FCs based on their clinical and operational characteristics to improve the quality of care, decrease the length of patient hospital stay, and lower the recurrence rate.
热性惊厥（FCs）是儿童最常见的惊厥类型。通常发生在6个月至5岁之间，全球2%-5%的儿童受其影响。本研究旨在描述在利雅得一家三级医疗医院被诊断为FCs并入院的儿童的流行病学和临床特征。
该研究纳入了年龄在3个月至5岁之间，前往沙特阿拉伯利雅得阿卜杜拉国王专科医院急诊科就诊，并于2015年至2021年期间因FC诊断入院的儿科患者。查阅医院的电子病历系统以获取患者的年龄、性别、临床特征、实验室检查、住院时间和结局等信息。使用Stata 12进行数据分析；卡方检验用于确定分类变量之间的关联，而t检验或曼-惠特尼U检验用于比较两组之间的连续数据。
共有247例诊断为FCs的儿童纳入分析；0.4%的儿科患者因FC诊断入院。大多数患者（77%）的惊厥由上呼吸道感染引发，惊厥发作的中位持续时间为4分钟；55%的患者为单纯性FC，40%的患者FC复发。与仅有一次惊厥发作的儿童（2.7%）相比，FC复发的儿童发育迟缓更为常见（15%）[<0.001]。
在研究期间，0.4%的儿科患者因FC诊断入院。需要开展更大规模的多中心研究，根据FCs的临床和操作特征进行评估，以提高护理质量、缩短患者住院时间并降低复发率。
