Febrile seizures in Malaysian children: epidemiology and clinical features

A child with a febrile seizure is a common cause of admission in a general paediatric ward in Malaysia. We set out to look prospectively into the clinical and epidemiological features of these children. A total of 117 children were admitted into the study. The ratio of boys to girls were 1.5:1.0. The racial breakdown was 62.4% Malays, 26.5% Indians, 8.5% Chinese and 2.6% others. The first febrile seizure occurred before the age of three years in 92.9% of our patients. The highest number of febrile seizures was in the six to 12 months age group. The average length of seizure was 9.5 minutes and the majority were non-recurrent. Febrile seizures with complex features occurred in 33.3% of the children. Upper respiratory tract infection was the most common cause of fever in our patients. There was a family history of seizures (febrile or afebrile) in 26.5% of patients.