Epidemiological characteristics of febrile seizures—Comparing between Bedouin and Jews in the Southern part of Israel

BACKGROUND Febrile seizures are the most common convulsive disorder in young children. Reviewing worldwide literature, one can see that seizures characteristics and source of fever are greatly varied. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether febrile seizures are associated with different features in Bedouin and Jewish children. METHODS Retrospective data from 374 files children diagnosed with febrile convulsions during 1989-1991 was analyzed. The children aged 3 months to 7 years comprised 261 Jews and 113 Bedouins. Data was taken from admission files and follow-up notes. RESULTS Febrile convulsions were diagnosed before the age of 2 in 75% and 81.4% of the Jewish and Bedouin children, respectively. Simple seizure was found among 80.4% and 72.2% of the Jewish and Bedouin groups, respectively. Complex seizure was found among 19.6% and 28.8% of the Jewish and Bedouin groups, respectively. 18.4% of the Jews and 17.8% of the Bedouin experienced more than one febrile convulsion. The most common diagnosis between the two groups by the time of the febrile seizure was otitis media however pneumonia was diagnosed in 15% of the Bedouins and only 3.8% of the Jews (P<0.005). Then again 19.1% of the Jewish population was found to suffer from upper respiratory tract infections, as opposed to 9.7% of the Bedouin (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The two groups were similar in some aspects (gender, age and type of seizures) nevertheless there were differences concerning the source of fever. Further studies are needed to find whether these differences are related to demographic, genetic or other factors.