(Incidence of convulsion in pediatrics in 2024 in intensive care unit at Tobruk medical center)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54361/LJMR.20.2.45Keywords:
convulsion, paediatrics, intensive care unit, centreAbstract
Background: Seizures are among the most common neurological manifestations in infancy and childhood. They are not a single disease, but rather a symptom of many underlying disorders with different causes. Neonatal seizures, febrile seizures, and epilepsy overlap to some extent, as children who experience neonatal or febrile seizures have a higher risk of developing epilepsy later. However, these conditions differ in their risk factors and epidemiological patterns. Seizures may also be triggered by other acute conditions, such as head trauma, although their exact frequency in children is difficult to determine. Aim: This study aimed to determine the frequency of convulsions among children in Tobruk, Libya, to identify the most common causes, and to analyse demographic factors such as age and gender. It also sought to improve clinical awareness and support future preventive and treatment strategies in the region. Methods: A total of 136 cases of convulsions in children aged from 1 day to 13 years were collected between February and December 2024. The study was conducted in the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) at Tobruk Medical Centre, Tobruk City, Libya. Data collection included age, gender, family history, body temperature, type of convulsion, number of attacks, diagnosis, treatment, and admission status. Ethical approval was obtained from Tobruk Medical Centre and the Faculty of Medicine at Tobruk University, and informed consent was obtained from the parents of all participants. Results: The most common diagnosis was febrile seizures, accounting for 38 cases (27.9%), followed by acute central nervous system (CNS) infections in 25 patients (18.4%) and epilepsy (chronic or recurrent) in 20 patients (14.7%). Other notable causes included genetic or congenital syndromes (9.6%), neonatal metabolic or genetic seizures (8.1%), and cases of uncertain cause (8.1%). Less common etiologies included acute provoked seizures related to metabolic or electrolyte disturbances or trauma, neonatal structural or ischemic causes, and toxic ingestion, which was the least frequent cause at 1.5%. Febrile seizures were slightly more common in females, with 22 cases compared with 16 cases in males.
Downloads
References
1. Muhammed SS. Febrile convulsion in Libyan children. Mediterr J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2023;3(2):19-26.
2. Lawgali MA, Halies FRS, Beayou AMA, Al-Fraik NGS, Al-Khurum KMA. Epidemiology, clinical presentation and outcome of neonatal convulsion at Tobruk Medical Centre, Libya. Asian J Res Rep Neurol. 2021;4(1):38-46.
3. Ali GAG, Abdolmejed FA. Incidence of febrile seizure in children in Tobruk Medical Center, Libya. Int J Health Care Biol Sci. 2018:46-49.
4. Sridharan R, Radhakrishnan K, Ashok PP, Mousa ME. Epidemiological and clinical study of epilepsy in Benghazi, Libya. Epilepsia. 1986;27(1):60-65.
5. Farghaly WM, Abd Elhamed MA, Hassan EM, Soliman WT, Yhia MA, El Hamdy NA. Prevalence of childhood and adolescence epilepsy in Upper Egypt (desert areas). Egypt J Neurol Psychiatry Neurosurg. 2018;54(1):34.
6. Alhaghamad M, Al H, Beshesh N, M. Investigating the awareness, behavior, and attitude toward epilepsy among university students in Benghazi, Libya. Epilepsy Behav. 2022;27:83-92.
7. Mohamed Z, Marajie A, Najem N, Elmarimy N, Abdulmoula G. Acute symptomatic seizure management among medical interns in Benghazi. Avicenna J Med. 2023;15(2):86-91.
8. Fatima A, Mohamed Masoud E, Najat A, Abdulhamed M. Convulsion in children with Down syndrome at Benghazi Children Hospital (2020-2021).
9. American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on Hospital Care. Metrication and SI units. Pediatrics. 1965;35(3):659-664. PMID: 7360564.
10. Beshay M, Abdel Ghafar H, El Awady H. Neurodevelopmental outcome in children with Down syndrome. Fayoum Univ Med J. 2019;2(1):79-88.
11. Vetter CM, Greenwood R, Golding J. Long-term intellectual and behavioral outcomes of children with febrile convulsions. N Engl J Med. 1983;309(18):1105-1109. doi:10.1056/NEJM198611383242403.
12. International League Against Epilepsy. International League Against Epilepsy classification and definition of epilepsy syndromes with onset in childhood: Position paper by the ILAE Task Force on Nosology and Definitions. Epilepsia. 2022;63(6):1398-1442. doi:10.1111/epi.17241.
13. Chevrie J, Aicardi J. Febrile convulsive disorders in the first year of life: etiologic factors. Epilepsia. 1972;13(4):489-498.
14. Cross JH. Fever and fever-related epilepsies. Epilepsia. 2012;53 Suppl 4:3-8. doi:10.1111/j.1528-1167.2012.03608.x.
15. Mahmood Arshad, Syed Qamar Zaman, et al. Neonatal seizures: types, etiology at a tertiary care hospital. Pak Armed Forces Med J. 2012;21(5):1043-1053.
16. Wong M. Febrile seizures: University School of Medicine and an epileptologist in the Pediatric Epilepsy Centre at St Louis Children's Hospital. Washington, USA; 2006.
17. Millichap JG. Febrile seizures. Pediatr Neurol Briefs. 1998;12(9):68-69.
18. Laino D, Mencaroni E, Esposito S. Management of pediatric febrile seizures. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(10):2232. doi:10.3390/ijerph15102232.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Fatimah Shuayb Abdulsalam, Nesreen Hossen , Pediatric Marzouq Fayz (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Open Access Policy
Libyan journal of medical Research (LJMR).is an open journal, therefore there are no fees required for downloading any publication from the journal website by authors, readers, and institution.
The journal applies the license of CC BY (a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license). This license allows authors to keep ownership f the copyright of their papers. But this license permits any user to download , print out, extract, reuse, archive, and distribute the article, so long as appropriate credit is given to the authors and the source of the work.
The license ensures that the article will be available as widely as possible and that the article can be included in any scientific archive.
Editorial Policy
The publication of an article in a peer reviewed journal is an essential model for Libyan journal of medical Research (LJMR). It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editorial, the peer reviewer and the publisher.
Any manuscript or substantial parts of it, submitted to the journal must not be under consideration by any other journal. In general, the manuscript should not have already been published in any journal or other citable form, although it may have been deposited on a preprint server. Authors are required to ensure that no material submitted as part of a manuscript infringes existing copyrights, or the rights of a third party.
Authorship Policy
The manuscript authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution and intellectual input to the research submitted to the journal, including design, performance, interpretation of the reported study, and writing the manuscript. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.
Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the manuscript but without intellectual input should only be recognized in the acknowledgements section of the manuscript. Also, one of the authors should be selected as the corresponding author to communicate with the journal and approve the final version of the manuscript for publication in the LJMR.
Peer-review Policy
- All the manuscripts submitted to LJMR will be subjected to the double-blinded peer-review process;
- The manuscript will be reviewed by two suitable experts in the respective subject area.
- Reports of all the reviewers will be considered while deciding on acceptance/revision or rejection of a manuscript.
- Editor-In-Chief will make the final decision, based on the reviewer’s comments.
- Editor-In-Chief can ask one or more advisory board members for their suggestions upon a manuscript, before making the final decision.
- Associate editor and review editors provide administrative support to maintain the integrity of the peer-review process.
- In case, authors challenge the editor’s negative decision with suitable arguments, the manuscript can be sent to one more reviewer and the final decision will be made based upon his recommendations.
https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2413-6069
