The Prophylaxis of Febrile Convulsions in Childhood: Secular Trends in the Last Decade (2007-2008 versus 2017-2018)

Aim: To analyze trends in the prophylaxis of febrile convulsions (FC) in childhood by comparing two cohorts from the previous two decades (2007-2008 versus 2017-2018).Materials and Methods: The cohort consisted of 272 children with FC who were followed up during the 2007-2008 (n=105) and 2017-2018 (n=167) periods in Ege University Faculty of Medicine Children's Hospital. The following clinical parameters were analyzed: demographic data, FC types, prophylaxis types, selected anti-seizure medications (ASM), recurrence risk factors, and electroencephalography (EEG) characteristics.Results: We defined two secular trends for the prophylaxis of FC in children in the last decade: (1) a reduced rate of FC prophylaxis (22.1%) in the period of 2017-2018 compared with a rate of 63.8% in 2007-2008, p<0.01, (2) no impact of recurrence risk factors for the initiation of prophylaxis for complex FC in the last decade (p=0.028). The mean number of previous seizures at the initiation of the ASM prophylaxis increased from 2.8 +/- 1.13 to 3.4 +/- 2.00 for simple FC and from 1.9 +/- 0.24 to 3.1 +/- 0.31 for complex FC (p<0.01) in the period of 2017-2018.Conclusion: Prophylaxis rates were determined to be lower in the last decade in children with FC. There was no impact of recurrence risk factors for the initiation of prophylaxis in children with simple or complex FC.