Evaluation of clinicoetiological profile for seizures among children under 5 years in India
TL;DR
Data shows the clinical and etiological spectrum of pediatric seizures emphasizing systematic evaluation for early identification of treatable causes, and most children (68.06%) were aged 1–5 years and generalized tonic-clonic seizures were predominant.
Abstract
Seizures are a common pediatric neurological emergency, particularly in children younger than 5 years, yet their etiological and clinical patterns remain insufficiently characterized in resource-limited settings. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the medical records of 191 children aged 1 month–5 years hospitalized with seizures during 2023, assessing demographic characteristics, seizure semiology, etiologies and clinical outcomes. Most children (68.06%) were aged 1–5 years and generalized tonic-clonic seizures (73.29%) were predominant, followed by focal seizures (11.51%) and generalized tonic seizures (10.99%). Febrile seizures (29.8%) were the leading etiology, followed by first unprovoked seizures (25.6%), metabolic derangements (11.5%), central nervous system infections (9.9%) and sequelae of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (6.3%). Thus, data shows the clinical and etiological spectrum of pediatric seizures emphasizing systematic evaluation for early identification of treatable causes.