Although febrile convulsion (FC) is a common clinical entity with a high recurrence rate, no specific factors have been identified to be highly predictive of its recurrence.
A total of 114 cases of FC identified during a 28 month period (January, 1989-May, 1991) was analysed.
A slight predominance of boys over girls (1.3 to 1.0) was observed. the majority of cases (89.4%) were under 3 years of age and the most common age range for the onset of FC was 1∼2 years.
The most common form of FC was tonic type (54.0%), followed by tonic-clonic (32.5%), clonic (5.3%), and complex partial type (5.3%).
Most FC episodes lasted less than 5 minutes (81.6%), and common clinical diagnosis underlying FC were as follows: pharyngotonsillitis (64.0%), bronchitis and/or pneumonia(16.7%), and gastroenteritis (9.7%).
The family history for seizure disorder was present in 27.2% of the cases: FC in 21.1%, epiepsy in 4.4%, and both in 1.8%.
Among 78 cases of the first FC, 43 cases were followed for 5 to 29 months without prophylactic anticonvulsant therapy.
The overall recurrence rate of FC in this group was 67.4% and the highest incidence was observed in patients less than one year old (86.7%).
A higher recurrence rate (80%) was observed in patients whose body temperature was lower than 39℃, as opposed to higher than 39℃ (50%).
It is concluded that the recurrence of FC is positively correlated with factors such as younger age (less than one year old), and lower body temperature at the time of onset of FC.
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