Medicina Alternativa e Integrativa

A Study on the Relationship between Hypocapnia and Febrile Seizure at Hazrat Rasool Hospital in Iran during a Three-Year Period of 2013-2015

Abstract

Saba Arshi, Davood Ershadi, Mohammad-Hassan Bemanian and Fahimeh Ehsanipoor

Aim: The recent studies have reported hypocapnia as an effective factor in febrile seizure. Since this problem has been overlooked in Iran, this paper aims to determine the relationship between hypocapnia and febrile seizure through a case-control study.

Method: The statistical population consists of children with simple fever or febrile seizure examined in Hazrat- Rasool Hospital during a three-year period of 2013-2015. We divided the children into case group (children with febrile seizure) and control group (children with simple fever). We also investigated the role of sex, age, family history and BMI in febrile seizure and hypocapnia. The data was collected by checklist based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. We compared the case and control groups using efficient statistical methods.

Results: We selected 83 children, out of which 44 children suffered from febrile seizure and 39 children had simple fever. 84.1% of the case group and 59.0% of the control group suffered from hypocapnia. The comparison of two groups produced P=0.011, which confirmed the significant relationship between febrile seizure and hypocapnia. The statistical analysis of the variables of sex, age, family history and BMI produced P-value>0.05, which confirmed the lack of relationship between the aforementioned variables and febrile seizure.

Discussion and Conclusion: The results of this research are in line with the previous studies, which indicate that hypocapnia is an important etiological factor in febrile seizure. It is recommended that further studies be made on this subject.