Parents' views of lumbar puncture in children with febrile seizures

A study was carried out to ascertain the views of parents regarding the performance of lumbar punctures on their children admitted for febrile seizures. One hundred and seventeen (117) children with febrile seizures were recruited over nine months. Either one of the parents was interviewed a day after admission. In most cases, this was usually the mother. The ethnic groups of the patients were Malays (62.4%), Indians (26.5%), Chinese (8.5%) and others (2.6%). Lumbar punctures were requested by the doctor in attendance in only 28 (23.9%) patients This showed that the rate of request for lumbar punctures in febrile seizures was low. Parents of eight of them refused. The main reasons for the refusal were: fears that the child might be paralysed, advice from relatives and fear that the child might die from the procedure, or might find it too painful. All the parents who refused were Malays. A lumbar puncture was also more likely to be refused in a girl. Those who consented to lumbar puncture did so because they wanted the doctor to get to the diagnosis. Another reason given was that it might be therapeutic. Parents whose children did not require a lumbar puncture also thought that lumbar puncture may cause paralysis. The main sources of information on lumbar punctures for the parents were their relatives and/or friends. In only 85% of the cases were the reasons for the lumbar puncture explained to the parent. In 71.4% of the time the explanation was done by the medical officer, and in only 4.8% of the time was the consultant involved.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)