Febrile seizures

Febrile seizures are the most common form of childhood seizures. Febrile seizures are defined as by the International League Against Epilepsy as a “seizure occurring in childhood after the age of one month, associated with a febrile illness not caused by an infection of the central nervous system, without previous neonatal seizures or a previous unprovoked seizure, and not meeting the criteria for other symptomatic seizures.” This is similar to the definition adopted by the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference in 1980, except that the lower age limit has been moved from 3 to 1 month of age. While they are most common between 6 months and 5 years of age, they can occur in younger and somewhat older children. Note that the definition does not require the child to be febrile at the time of the seizure, although the event must be in the context of a febrile illness.