Genetics and environmental risk factors associated with febrile seizures

The aim of this study was to determine genetic and environmental risk factors associated with febrile convulsions among children in the United Arab Emirates. This study was based on matched case-control studies. Subjects were collected from the Al-Ain Medical Health District and the Tawam and Al-Ain Teaching Hospitals of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Seventy patients with febrile seizure were identified and were matched to 70 control febrile patients without seizure with the same age range (3-36 months), who attended the same hospitals during the same period of time. Mothers of studied patients and controls were interviewed by telephone. If the mother was not available, the father was interviewed. Potential risk factors were investigated. The mean and standard deviation for age were 17.0 ± 7.9 months for studied patients and 18.0 ± 9.1 months for controls. The highest frequency of cases with febrile seizure was in children aged 1-2 years. Forty six cases (65.7% had a febrile seizure for the first time and 24 cases (34.3%) had it before (recurrent febrile seizure). The Mantel Haenszel test revealed that sex, respiratory infection, positive family history, and birth weight were significant predictors for febrile seizure. It is recommended to establish health educational programs for mothers regarding febrile seizures and how to deal with their children during such attacks.