ARE FEBRILE CONVULSIONS LINKED TO ATTENTION DEFICIT?
Children with a history of early febrile convulsions do not show adverse effects on behavior, scholastic performance, or neurocognitive attention outcomes when they reach school age, according to the results of a population-based study conducted in China. Reporting in the April Epilepsia, the researchers noted that the results of the study should “reassure parents about the favorable prognosis of [febrile convulsions].” Febrile convulsion affects between 2% and 4% of children before age 5, they wrote. Most previously published hospital-based studies have shown fairly high rates of mental retardation (8% to 22%), behavioral disturbance (30%), and academic difficulties in children with febrile convulsion. The authors suggested that these rates may not be representative of the general febrile convulsive population, as such cohorts may include more severe and possibly atypical cases. To assess whether febrile convulsions in early childhood are associated with neurocognitive attention defic
