Serums Sodium & Calcium Level in Children with Simple and Recurrent Febrile Convulsion

Introduction: Febrile convulsions occur in young children when there is a rapid increase in their body temperature. It affects up to 1 in 20 children between the ages of one and four but can affect children between six months and about five years old.  Previous studies have showed relationship between low serum sodium and calcium level and recurrence of febrile convulsions. This study designed to find out the effect of serum sodium and calcium level on febrile convulsions between two groups of patients with simple and recurrence febrile convulsion during 24 hours.

 Materials & Methods: In this descriptive – analytic study, medical records of 109 patients with simple febrile convulsion and 144 patients with recurrent febrile convulsion, who had been admitted in Shahid Fahmideh Hospital of Kermanshah, were reviewed. Data were collected by trained personnel and analyzed using T- test.

Results: Mean  sodium and calcium level  were 139.56 ±   2.86 meq/L  and 9.23  ±  0.76 mg/dl in first group and  139.32 ± 2.75 meq/L and 9.18 ±  0.8 mg/dl in second group respectively. There was no significant difference between sodium and calcium level in two groups (P= 0.40 and P=0.63).

Conclusions: This study confirmed that serum sodium and calcium level in patients with febrile convulsion is not a predictor factor for recurrence of seizure.