Open AccessFEBRILE CONVULSIONS IN CHILDREN
Author(s) -
Surriya Bibi,
Maqbool Ahmad,
Ayeshas Ajid
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the professional medical journal/the professional medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2071-7733
pISSN - 1024-8919
DOI - 10.29309/tpmj/2009.16.04.2733
Subject(s) - medicine , febrile convulsions , convulsion , etiology , febrile seizure , pediatrics , chi square test , intervention (counseling) , test (biology) , psychiatry , epilepsy , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , biology
O b j e c t i v e s : (i) To know about the knowledge, attitude and practices of parents of children with febrile convulsions, (ii) To provideadequate information of relationship between fever and febrile convulsions and its usual good prognosis. D e s i g n : Descriptive study. S e t t i n g :It was conducted at Pediatric Department of Madina Teaching Hospital Sargodha Road Faisalabad. P e r i o d : Two years period from January2007-2009. M A T E R I A L A N D M E T H O D S : 150 parents and their children with febrile convulsions were included in the study. Diagnosis wasmade on the basis of a history of a convulsion in the child with a febrile illness. Cases were excluded when there was doubt about theoccurrence of convulsions, or if the child previously had convulsions due to any other cause, or if the physical examination or laboratoryparameters suggested any other etiology for the convulsions. LP was done in case of first time febrile fits. A pretested questionnaire comprisingof 12 questions was used for the study. Data was presented through frequency table. Statistical test of significance was Chi-square test. Thedata was analyzed with the help of SPSS computer program EQS 10 N. R e s u l t s : in the study 83 parents (59.3%) could not recognize theconvulsion; 127 parents (90.7%) did not carry out any intervention prior to getting the child to the hospital. 109 (77.9%) parents did not knowthe facts that the convulsion can occur due to fever. For 56 (40%) of the parents every subsequent episode of fever was like a nightmare. Only21 parents (15%) had thermometer at home and 28 (20%) knew the normal range of body temperature. Correct preventive measures wereknown to only 41 (29.2%). C o n c l u s i o n s : Parental fear of fever and febrile convulsion is a major problem with negative consequences affectingdaily family life. The most common immediate effect of the convulsion on the parents was fear of death and insomnia and fear of braindamage.