Differences in iron deficiency anemia and mean platelet volume between children with simple and complex febrile seizures.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between iron deficiency anemia and febrile seizures (FSs) were examined in several studies before. The aim of our study is to find out the differences regarding iron deficiency anemia, demographic characteristics and mean platelet volume (MPV) which is an inflammatory marker between simple and complex febrile seizure groups.

METHODS: In this study, the authors investigated the recordings of 493 children with a diagnosis of simple and complex febrile seizure, aged between 6 months and 6 years, followed between 2002 and 2010 retrospectively.

RESULTS: Mean age and male/female ratio were similar in two groups. There was no significant difference regarding with age, gender and family history of FS between two groups. We found significant difference statistically with respect to gestational age, consanguinity, family history of epilepsy and birth weight between two groups. The mean levels of Hb, Htc, MCV were lower and Plt and RDW levels were higher in children with CFS than SFS group, the differences were statistically significant (p: 0.001). A higher proportion of children with CFS (16.2%) had iron deficiency anemia compared to SFS group (12.1%). Mean platelet volume (MPV) of CFS (7.99±0.96fL) were significantly lower than that of SFS group (8.77±0.75) (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggests that iron deficiency anemia is more frequently seen among the patients with CFS than the patients with SFS. The lower levels of MPV as an inflammatory marker, supports the idea that CFS is a brain inflammatory disease and the consequence of this inflammatory mechanism is the development of the epilepsy. Further studies are necessary to highlight the relationship between iron metabolism, inflammation and seizures.