0162

IRON STATUS: A POSSIBLE RISK FACTOR FOR THE FIRST FEBRILE SEIZURE

Daoud AS*, Batieha A**, Abu-Ekteish F*, Gharaibeh N***, Ajlouni S**** and Sheyyab M*

Department of Pediatrics*, Community Medicine** and Physiology***, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan and King Hussain Medical Center****, Jordan

Objective: To investigate the effect of iron status on the first febrile seizure (FFS).

Methodology: Measures of iron sufficiency including hemoglobin concentration (HB), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and plasma ferritin (PF) were prospectively measured in 75 children with FFS and compared to 75 controls group matched on age and sex with febrile illnesses but without convulsions. These blood indices were further compared between children with simple febrile seizures (FS) (65) and those with complex seizures (10).

Results: Plasma ferritin level was significantly lower in cases with FFS (29.5±21.3) than controls (53.3±37.6) with a P=0.0001. The proportion of cases with PF level ?30 g/L was significantly higher among children with FFS (49/75 versus 24/75) than controls (P=0.000). Levels of HB, MCV, MCH were also lower among FFS cases than controls but differences were not statistically significant.Higher proprtion of cases with FFS had a HB less than 110g/L, MCV less than72fL and MCH less than 24pg than controls but the differences were not statistically significant. The mean values of HB (97.2), MCV (70.7), MCH (22.9) and PF (22.2) were lower in complex than simple FS (107.9,73.6,25.5 and 30.7 respectively) but differences were only significant for HB (p=0.016) and MCH (p=0.03) and not significant for PF and MCV probably due to small sample size of children with complex seizures.

Conclusion: Plasma Ferritin level was significantly lower in children with FFS than controls, Hb and MCH was significantly lower in complex than simple FS suggesting a role for iron status in FFS.