The Relationship between Iron Deficiency Anemia and Febrile Convulsion in 6-Month to 5-Year-Old Children in Hazrat Fatemeh Masomeh Educational and Treatment Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Febrile convulsion (FC) is the most common seizure disorder in children and is seen in 2-5% of children under 5 years of age. This study was performed to determine the relationship between febrile convulsion and iron deficiency anemia in children. In this case-control study, 65 hospitalized children with febrile convulsion in Qom Hazrat Fatemeh Masomeh Educational and Treatment Center, were assigned to patient group and 65 children with fever without convulsion were placed in control group. After resolution of fever, 2ml blood samples were taken from all the children and blood parameters, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were measured. MCV, MCH, and MCHC tests were performed to rule out thalassemia. Data were analyzed by chi-square and t-test at the significance level of less than 0.05. The rate of iron deficiency anemia was significantly lower in febrile convulsion group compared to febrile without convulsion group, so that 33.8% of the children of the febrile convulsion group had anemia. This rate was 53.8% in the control group, which the difference was statistically significant. The results of this study indicated that iron deficiency anemia was less frequent in the febrile convulsion cases, as compared to the control group, and iron deficiency anemia could have a protective effect against the incidence of febrile convulsion, therefore, more studies should be done to confirm it.