A long-term (7-years) follow-up of Cerebrospinal fluid analysis in the first simple febrile seizure; an Iranian children's therapeutic center-based study

Febrile seizure (FS) is the most common manifestation of neurologic disease in infants who referred to hospital. Because of pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae vaccination, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) perforation is not necessary in infants 6 to 12 months of age with simple FS. This study aimed a 7-years follow-up of CSF analysis in infants 1-6 and 6-12 months of age with the first simple of FS. This retrospective analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in infants 1 to 12 months of age with simple FS who hospitalized in Amirkola pediatric's hospital in Babol (north of Iran) from 2013 to 2019. CSF parameters and type of meningitis were divided into two groups: 1-6 and 6-12 months. Also, CSF analysis, white blood cell count, CSF protein concentration and CSF glucose was considered to differentiation bacterial meningitis and aseptic meningitis. A total of 106 infants (mean age of 7.94 ± 2.60 months) participated in this study. The prevalence of meningitis in infants with first simple FS was 4.7% (n= 5 of 106), which 80% (n= 4 of 5) of meningitis occurred in infants under 6 months and 75% (n=3 of 4) in infants under 6 months had aseptic type. Bacterial meningitis was significantly higher in infants younger than 6 months (P <0.001). The prevalence of bacterial meningitis in infants with 1-6 months was partially higher than 6-12 months of age and our results suggest that performing LP among infants aged 6 to 12 months with the first FS should be performed more cautiously.