Associative Patterns Between Iron Deficiency Anemia and Febrile Seizures in the Five to 60 Months Age Group: A Comprehensive Systematic Review

Cureus. 2024 Mar 19;16(3):e56470. doi: 10.7759/cureus.56470. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Febrile seizures (FS) are commonly seen in younger age groups. The cause of seizures is multifactorial, including viral illnesses, certain vaccines such as MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), family history of FS, and certain mineral deficiencies like zinc. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common cause of anemia in children of the same age group. The systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. This review aimed to investigate the correlation between IDA and fever convulsions. A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar databases for studies published between January 2013 and September 2023. The following keywords were used to search the articles: "children", "febrile seizures", and "iron deficiency anemia", using all possible combinations and using the word "and" between them. Following the inclusion and exclusion criteria application, we included 23 case-control studies written in the English language in this study. Quality assessment of studies was done using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale.

Keywords: children; febrile convulsion; febrile seizures; iron deficiency anemia (ida); simple febrile seizure.

Publication types

  • Review