children s health issues
Febrile Seizures
Prognosis for Febrile Seizures
About 35% of children have additional febrile seizures but usually only a few seizures. Children are more likely to have additional seizures if they were under 1 year old when they had the first febrile seizure or if they have close relatives who have had febrile seizures. Children who have had a simple febrile seizure have a slightly increased risk (about 2 to 5%) of developing a Seizure Disorders that does In some children, having a very long febrile seizure results in changes in the brain (identified by MRI) that lead to nonfebrile seizures later. In some cases, doctors are not sure whether having a long febrile seizure by itself makes nonfebrile seizures more likely or whether some underlying factors make the children more likely to have both the long febrile seizure and then later nonfebrile seizures. Simple febrile seizures are not thought to cause epilepsy or other neurologic abnormalities. However, a febrile seizure is sometimes the first sign of a previously unrecognized neurologic disorder or seizure disorder. Sometimes doctors can look back and see signs of that disorder in the child's past history. Sometimes other signs of the disorder do not appear until later. In either case, the febrile seizure is not thought to cause the abnormalities. 