Comparison of febrile seizures in children with or without coronavirus disease‐2019: A single‐center observational study

Background Febrile seizure (FS) is one of the most common neurological manifestations of coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) in children. We compared the clinical characteristics of FS in patients with and without COVID‐19 during the pandemic period. Methods This retrospective single‐center study included patients aged 0–18 years who visited the pediatric emergency department (ED) with FS from January 1, 2022, to April 30, 2022. Results A total of 186 patients visited the pediatric ED with FS during the study period: 123 (66.1%) were positive for COVID‐19 and 63 (33.9%) were negative. Patients with COVID‐19 were predominantly male (70.7% vs. 50.8%, p = 0.007) and older (2.4 vs. 1.8 years, p = 0.005) than those without COVID‐19. A higher proportion of patients with COVID‐19 were of atypical age (age > 5 years or 5 years (22% vs. 4.8%, p = 0.003). Patients with COVID‐19 had a higher probability of multiple episodes of convulsion within 24 h than those without COVID‐19 (10.6% vs. 1.6%, p = 0.037). Among patients with COVID‐19, males had a shorter fever‐to‐seizure duration than females (3 h vs. 6.5 h, p = 0.045). Conclusions Patients with FS with COVID‐19 tend to be predominantly male and have older age of onset than those without COVID‐19. Because of the atypical age of onset and probability of multiple convulsion episodes, vigilance for FS is needed in patients with COVID‐19, especially males.