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Febrile Seizure This calculator has been designed to help healthcare professionals counsel parents of children who have had their first febrile seizure.<br>By selecting whether or not specific clinical predictors are present the calculator will work out the risk of the child having a further febrile seizure or going onto develop epilepsy.<br/>

Febrile seizures are a common problem affecting 2 - 5 percent of children in Western Europe or the USA.[ref 1] After a child has had their first febrile seizure parents are naturally anxious and often want to know the risk of further febrile seizures and the risk of their child developing epilepsy. This calculator has been developed to help the healthcare professional provide an accurate evidence based answer to the above questions.

Risk of Recurrence
Once a child has had a febrile seizure they are at higher risk of having another febrile seizure compared to the background population.On average 30 % of these children will have a further febrile seizure,however the actual rate of recurrence ranges from 15 % to 65 % depending on the presence or absence of the following clinical predictors:[ref 2]

1. Early age of onset(< 18 months)
2. Seizure with a lower temperature(< 40°C)
3. Family history of febrile seizures

The more clinical predictors that are present, the greater the risk of recurrence.

Risk of Epilepsy
About 2 % of children who have had a febrile convulsion develop epilepsy, which is slightly higher than the rate of 1 % in the background population.[ref 1] Clinical predictors which can be used to calculate the risk of these children developing epilepsy include:[ref 2]

1. Family history of afebrile seizures
2. Complex febrile seizure
3. Abnormal neurology prior to 1st febrile seizure

If none of these clinical predictors are present the risk of epilepsy is not increased compared to the background population, whereas children with two or more of these clinical predictors have a 10% risk of developing epilepsy.

Q Why did the disclaimer message appear this morning?

A. The disclaimer message will appear every 3 months just to remind you of the terms and conditions of using the application.

Q. When I change the orientation from portrait to landscape how do I get the topic text to expand. ?

A. To get the topic text to expand simply tap the screen and the text will automatically expand or contract to fit the screen.