Investigation of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios and red cell distribution width in patients with febrile convulsions and determination of their role in febrile convulsion classification

Febrile convulsion is a type of convulsion typically seen in children between six months and six years of age, in which central nervous system infection or inflammation is not triggering. Febrile seizures are divided into two groups based on their clinical features: simple and complicated febrile seizures. Although the classification of febrile seizure is usually made easily according to clinical characteristics, it is difficult to distinguish as most of the febrile seizures occur outside the hospital and information about the character of seizures is usually obtained from parents. Currently, there are no objective parameters to distinguish between these two types of seizures. Hence, objective diagnostic indicators to determine the type of seizures in non-hospital seizures are needed. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio and Red blood cell Distribution Width in determining the type of febrile seizures. Our study was designed as a retrospective study and the files of 112 patients who had been presented to the Department of Pediatrics of Afyonkarahisar University of Health Sciences Hospital with febrile convulsion, were retrospectively reviewed. Hemogram and C-reactive protein values, which are routine laboratory tests during follow-up were compared in patients with simple and complicated febrile seizures. The mean ± SD value of neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio of patients with simple febrile seizures and complicated febrile seizures were 2.06 ± 1.99 (0.12-8.3) and 3.30 ± 3.81 (0.43-15.9); respectively. The difference between two groups were statistically significant (p = 0.034). Comparing the means of red blood cell distribution width values, it was founded that the mean was 15.4 ± 2.09% (12-22.3) in patients with simple febrile seizures and 15.3 ± 2.65% in patients with complicated febrile seizures. There was no significant difference between the two groups (p=0.703). In conclusion, objective markers are needed to determine seizure type in children with febrile seizures. In this study, we found that Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio is a useful marker in determining the type of febrile seizures whereas the Red blood cell Distribution Width is not useful in this differentiation.