Prevalence of Febrile Seizures, Epilepsy, and Other Paroxysmal Attacks in a Swedish Cohort of 4-Year-Old Children

Abstract

A questionnaire about any type of seizures was distributed to parents at the children's 4-year health surveillance at Child Healthcare Centers in Gothenburg, Sweden, to analyze the prevalence of febrile seizures (FS), epilepsy, and other paroxysmal attacks. Parents who reported any kind of seizures in their child were subsequently contacted by telephone to confirm the information given and to invite the child to a clinical assessment. In addition, hospital registers and individual records were checked of the appropriate age group as regards a diagnosis of epilepsy or febrile seizures. Parents of 4,290 of 6,076 eligible children (71%) completed the questionnaire. For 252 children (5.9%), any type of paroxysmal attack was reported: FS in 157/4,290 children (3.7%), epilepsy in 22/4,290 (0.5%), and other paroxysmal attacks in 75/4,290 (1.7%). Epilepsy developed in 4 out of 157 (2.5%) children with FS before their fifth birthday. This population-based study, covering all types of paroxysmal attacks in preschool children revealed a total prevalence of nearly 6%, the largest group being FS. The total rate of paroxysmal attacks in preschool children is equal to the rate of developmental/neuropsychiatric disorders in this age group. The conditions constitute a large group in pediatrics and entail considerable concern among parents.

Keywords

febrile seizures - epilepsy - paroxysmal attacks - preschool children - prevalence

Funding

Financial support was received from the Research and Development Unit, County Council of Halland, the Margaretahem Foundation, the Linnéa and Josef Carlsson Foundation, the Wilhelm and Martina Lundgren Foundation, the Swedish Epilepsy Association and the Queen Silvia Foundation (G. N.) and from Per and Annmari Ahlqvist Foundation (C. G.).

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