Evaluation of the cerebrospinal fluid analysis parameters in children with febrile seizures

Febrile seizures are the most common cause of seizures in children under 5 years of age. Central nervous system infections are an important differential diagnosis of febrile seizures. Apart from infections, CSF characteristics are affected by many factors including the cause, type and duration of seizures. This study was designed to determine the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) indices, including white blood cells (WBC), polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) count, and levels of protein and glucose in the CSF of children with fever-induced seizures.

The present study is a descriptive study that evaluated the results of CSF analysis in 56 children with febrile seizures admitted to Imam Sajjad Hospital in Yasouj from March 2012 to 2013. In the present study, CSF analysis was performed in children with a diagnosis of febrile seizures. In order to collect information from a pre-designed form that includes demographic information (age and gender), degree of fever, and information related to CSF indices including WBC, PMN and levels of protein and glucose in CSF, which have been extracted and recorded, statistical methods are used in this study to express descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, number, percentage, etc.

56 children with a diagnosis of convulsive fever with a mean age of 21.4±14 months were evaluated. 37.5% (21 individuals) of the study population were females and 62.5% (53 individuals) were males. Among them, 33 individuals had low-grade fever and 23 individuals had high-grade fever. In 10.7%, the number of WBCs was more than 5. The amount of protein obtained was in the normal range, between 20 and 50 mg/dl, in 57.1% of cases. However, a significant percentage (39.3%) of CSF liquid protein was below 20 mg/dl. CSF fluid glucose levels were within the normal range at 91.1%.

Based on the results of this study, febrile seizures may be associated with low protein levels in the CSF. However, due to the limited sample size in our study, similar studies with higher sample sizes are recommended.