NR 602 FINAL EXAM OUTLINE

NR 602 FINAL EXAM OUTLINE

• Are the most common childhood seizure, affecting 2-5% of children.
• Benign and self-limiting
• Usually occur between 3 months and 5 yrs
• Without evidence of intracranial infection or defined cause
• Peak incidence at 18 months.
•  The incidence in boys is slightly higher than in girls.
• Excludes seizures with fever in children who have had a prior afebrile seizure.
• “a seizure accompanied by fever (temperature > 100.4°F or 38°C by any method)
• 2 classifications simple/ complex
• Simple febrile seizure (SFS)– A self-limited, short (< 15 minutes), generalized, tonic-clonic seizure that does not recur within the same illness and is not associated with post-ictal pathology.
• Complex febrile seizures (CFS)- Febrile seizures that do not meet all criteria for SFS.
• Prolonged febrile seizure (PFS) – is a complex seizure that lasts longer than 15 minutes.
• Febrile status epilepticus (FSE)– a febrile seizure that continues longer than 30 minutes is classified as FSE. FSE’s accounts for 5% to 9% of all febrile seizures and 25% of all episodes of status epilepticus occurring in children.
• Despite the common belief that febrile seizures occur with rise in temperature, there is no evidence to support this.
• Febrile seizures usually develop in the first 24 hours of the illness, with 21% of children manifesting a seizure within an hour of fever onset.
• The seizure itself is the first sign of febrile illness in 25% to 50% of cases.
• Seizures that occur 3 or more days after the onset of fever should be considered unlikely to be a febrile seizure.
• Seizures are complex in 9% to 35% of cases.
• Risk factors for developing febrile seizures are the height of the temperature and a positive family history in first-degree relatives.
• Other identified risk factors are a neonatal nursery stay of greater than 28 days, developmental delay, and day care attendance.