Background: Febrile seizures are defined as seizures accompanied with fever that occur in neurologically healthy infants and children (6 through 60 months of age) with no intracranial infection, metabolic disturbance, or a history of afebrile seizures. Trace elements may have a role in febrile seizures by modulation of neurotransmission. We aimed to determine whether there was any change in serum zinc and magnesium level in children with febrile convulsion during the attack.
Method: This prospective case control study was performed on 100 children recruited from Pediatric Departments at Al-Hussein and Sayed Galal University hospitals during the period from June 2013 to June 2015. A total number of 50 children, age of 6 months to 5 years, who had febrile convulsion were served as the cases whereas another 50 children within the same age range with febrile illness who had fever without convulsion participated as the control group.
A thorough history was taken and complete examination was done for them together with estimation of serum zinc and magnesium levels.
Results: The male to female ratio was 1.27: 1 in the study group and the majority was in the age group between 13 – 24 months. The mean serum zinc level in children with febrile convulsion was found to be lower than that of febrile children without convulsion with statistically significant difference (P<0.001). The serum Mg level didn't show significant difference between case and control groups (P=0.079).
Conclusions: This study showed positive correlation between low serum zinc and febrile convulsions however, no significant difference in magnesium levels between case and control groups. It can emphasize the hypothesis that zinc deficiency could be a potential risk factor in febrile convulsions.