Iron Status and Iron Deficiency Anemia in Patients with Febrile Seizure

Background : Febrile seizure is the most common form of seizure and iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency in children. Pathogenesis of this type of seizure is not well known, but several factors including genetic predisposition, lack of elements such as zinc, magnesium and iron are implicated in its occurrence. The objective of this study is to determine the iron status and iron deficiency anemia in patients with febrile seizure referred to “Ali-Ebn-e-Abitaleb hospital” of Zahedan in 2010.
Materials and Methods : This case-control study was conducted on 50 children with febrile seizure and 50 children with febrile illness but not seizure as a control group with age range of 6-72 months. Both groups were identical in terms of age and gender. After obtaining demographic information based on clinical examination, history and information contained in the documents, complete blood cells count, red blood cell indices and serum ferritin were performed for all patients.
Results : The average age of patients in the case and control groups was 25.28±17.26 and 26.12±20.04 months, respectively. Mean values of hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin, plasma ferritin and serum iron levels in patients with febrile seizure were lower than the control group, but this difference was not statistically significant. The number of patients suffered from iron deficiency anemia in the case and control groups, were 22(44%) and 18(36%), respectively.
Conclusion : Considering the lack of significant differences between the case and control groups in terms of iron status and anemia prevalence, it is suggested that careful evaluation of anemia and RBC indices in such patients should be done only based on clinical and nutritional history of each patient.