febrile seizures: etiology, prevalence, and geographical variation

how to cite this article: delpisheh a, veisani y, sayehmiri k, fayyazi a. febrile seizures: etiology, prevalence, and geographical variation. iran j child neurol. 2014 summer; 8(3):30-37.   abstract objective febrile seizures (fss) are the most common neurological disorder observed in the pediatric age group. the present study provides information about epidemiological and clinical characteristics as well as risk factors associated with fs among iranian children. materials & methods on the computerized literature valid databases, the fs prevalence and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using a random effects model. a metaregression analysis was introduced to explore heterogeneity between studies.  data manipulation and statistical analyses were performed using stata10. results the important viral or bacterial infection causes of fss were; recent upper respiratory infection 42.3% (95% ci: 37.2%–47.4%), gastroenteritis21.5% (95% ci: 13.6%–29.4%), and otitis media infections15.2% (95% ci: 9.8%- 20.7%) respectively. the pooled prevalence rate of fs among other childhood convulsions was 47.9% (95% ci: 38.8–59.9%). the meta–regression analysis showed that the sample size does not significantly affect heterogeneity for the factor ‘prevalence fs’. conclusions almost half of all childhood convulsions among iranian children are associated with febrile seizure.   references felipe l, siqueira m. febrile seizures: update on diagnosis and management. siqueira lfm. 2010;56 (4):489–92. oka e, ishida s, ohtsuka y, ohtahara s. neuroepidemiological study of childhood epilepsy by application of international classification of epilepsies and epileptic syndromes (ilae, 1989). epilepsia. 1995;36 (7):658–61. shi x, lin z, ye x, hu y, zheng f, hu h. an epidemiological survey of febrile convulsions among pupils in the wenzhou region. zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi. 2012 feb;14 (2):128–30. waruiru c, appleton r. febrile seizures: an update. arch dis child. 2004;89 (8):751–6. bettis db, ater sb. febrile seizures: emergency department diagnosis and treatment. the journal of emergency medicine. 1985;2 (5):341–8. bauchner h, philipp b, dashefsky b, klein j. prevalence of bacteriuria in febrile children. pediatr infect dis j. 1987;6 (3):239–42. lee p, verrier jones k. urinary tract infection in febrile convulsions. arch dis child. 1991;66 (11):1287–90. fukuyama y, seki t, ohtsuka c, miura h, hara m. practical guidelines for physicians in the management of febrile seizures. brain and development. 1996;18 (6):479–84. mohebbi m, holden kr. febrile and afebrile or provoked and unprovoked seizures? 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