The effect of body temperature in seizures associated with rotavirus gastroenteritis

초록

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of body temperature in seizures associated with rotavirus gastroenteritis. Methods: Medical charts of infants and children who had been admitted to the pediatric department of Inha University Hospital between July 1999 and June 2011 due to seizures associated with rotavirus gastroenteritis were reviewed. Subjects were initially divided into two groups on the basis of the presence/absence of fever during seizure; ‘febrile seizure’, ‘afebrile seizure’. Results: Among the 75 patients that were admitted due to seizures associated with rotavirus enteritis, 17 patients (23%) were included in the ‘febrile seizure’ group and 42 patients (56%) in the ‘afebrile seizure’ group. 16 patients (21%) were excluded from the study. Among the ‘afebrile seizure’ group, 19 subjects (32%) had fever during the illness, while 23 subjects (39%) were afebrile during the illness. There was a statistical significance between the three groups on the duration between the onset of diarrhea and the 1st episode of seizure. Patients with febrile seizures were most likely to develop seizure earlier, while afebrile seizure patients without fever during the illness were most likely to develop seizure later (1.29±0.77 vs. 2.47±0.90 vs. 3.09±0.95 days; p<0.0001). Episodes of seizure were less frequent in the ‘febrile seizure’ group showing significant difference between the ‘febrile seizure’ group and the other two groups (1.7±1.0 vs. 2.8±1.1 vs. 3.3±1.8 episodes; p<0.01), while there was no significant difference between the two subgroups of the ‘afebrile seizure’ group. Conclusion: Results of our study has revealed that body temperature may influence the characteristics of seizures associated with rotavirus enteritis, in which differences of the degree of in