Cognitive functioning one month and one year following febrile status epilepticus.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine early developmental and cognitive outcomes of children with febrile status epilepticus (FSE) one month and one year after FSE.

METHODS: One hundred ninety four children with FSE were evaluated on measures of cognition, receptive language, and memory as part of the FEBSTAT study and compared with 100 controls with simple febrile seizures (FSs).

RESULTS: Children with FSE did not differ dramatically on tasks compared with FS controls at one month after FSE but demonstrated slightly weaker motor development (p=0.035) and receptive language (p=0.034) at one year after FSE. Performances were generally within the low average to average range. Within the FSE cohort, non-White children performed weaker on many of the tasks compared with Caucasian children. At the one-year visit, acute hippocampal T2 findings on MRI were associated with weaker receptive language skills (p=0.0009), and human herpes virus 6 or 7 (HHV6/7) viremia was associated with better memory performances (p=0.047).

CONCLUSION: Febrile status epilepticus does not appear to be associated with significant cognitive impairment on early developmental measures, although there is a trend for possible receptive language and motor delay one year after FSE. Further follow-up, which is in progress, is necessary to track long-term cognitive functioning.