Children with febrile seizures do not consume excess health care resources

Background: Febrile seizures are benign but so terrifying for parents that they may subsequently view their affected children as "vulnerable." Childre n viewed as vulnerable may be brought to medical attention more frequently. We examined subsequent hospitalizations and physician visits during a 6- t o 71/2-year period for a group of children who had participated in a case-c ontrol study of initial febrile seizures. Methods: Individual data from a regional cohort of 75 children with a first febrile seizure and 150 febrile and 150 afebrile controls were linked to 2 comprehensive provincial health services databases-a hospital admissions/ separations database and a physician services database. Results: Linkage was achieved for 98% of the study cohort, with heath care utilization data for 6 to 71/2 years available fur 96%. Children with febri le seizures had nearly identical rates of subsequent hospitalization compar ed with age-matched controls (chi(2) test, P = .88). An excess of day-surge ry visits for primarily otolaryngologic procedures was seen for the febrile seizure patients 0 to 12 months after their initial febrile seizure (chi(2 ) test, P < .001). During the next 6 to 71/2 years, the febrile seizure pat ients had nearly identical rates of physician visits (chi(2) test, P = .15) ; however, they had more visits to otolaryngologists in the first 3 to 9 mo nths after the febrile seizure (chi(2) test, P < .001), but fewer visits to pediatricians during the next 1 to 4 years (chi(2) test, P < .001). Conclusions: Children with febrile seizures have nearly identical rates of hospital and physician services utilization compared with controls. This su pports the hypothesis that febrile seizures are benign, and that parents re cover from their initial anxiety and do not consider their children vulnera ble to additional illness in the years that follow.