WHAT TYPES OF EPILEPSY ARE PRECEDED BY FEBRILE SEIZURES - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY OF CHILDREN

In a population of 850,000, the authors studied afebrile seizures that follow febrile seizures. Review of all paediatric EEGs identified 504 children with epilepsy beginning between 1977 and 1985. Follow-up ave raged 85 months. 14.9 per cent had preceding febrile seizures: 13 per cent complex partial, 13 per cent partial/secondary generalized and 22 per cent generalized tonic-clonic. The rate of preceding febrile seiz ures did not vary with the cause of epilepsy. Prolonged febrile seizur es were not associated with any particular afebrile seizure type. Of 1 7 with preceding prolonged febrile seizures, seven developed intractab le epilepsy: 17.9 per tent of the total intractable cases. Only two de veloped idiopathic intractable complex partial seizures after prolonge d febrile seizures. The authors conclude that febrile seizures most of ten precede generalized tonic-clonic afebrile seizures. Prolonged febr ile seizures rarely precede idiopathic intractable complex partial sei zures. The febrile seizure tendency may be a fundamental marker of an individual's seizure threshold.