Frequency of meningitis in children 6-18 months of age presenting with 1st episode of seizure and fever at Sahiwal Teaching Hospital Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the frequency of meningitis in children 6-18 months of age presenting with 1st episode of febrile seizure (FS). Study Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Department of Pediatric Medicine, Sahiwal Teaching Hospital, Sahiwal. Period: October 2021 to April 2022. Material & Methods: Children with 1st simple FS of age 6 months to 18 months of either gender were included. After taking informed written consent from the child’s parents, lumbar puncture was done in each patient and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis and blood sample were sent to the institutional pathology laboratory for presence or absence of meningitis. Results: In a total of 156 children, mean age was 11.24±2.86 months while 94 (60.3%) children were between 6-12 months of age. There were 100 (64.1%) male and 56 (35.9%) female children. The frequency of meningitis was found in 16 (10.3%) patients. Conclusion: The frequency of meningitis in children with 1st episode of febrile seizure was high (10.3%).