Although a few concerns have been raised (see below), the long term outcomes are generally good with little risk of neurological problems or epilepsy. Those who have one<unk>  have an approximately 30- 40% chance of having another one in the next two years, with the risk being greater in those who are younger. Simple<unk> s do not tend to recur frequently (children tend to outgrow them) and are associated with a slight increase in later epilepsy (about 2-3%) compared with the general public without<unk> s (1%) As noted above, children with a first<unk>  convulsion are more likely to have a recurrent<unk>  if they were young at their first seizure (less than 18 months old), have a family history of a<unk>  convulsions in first-degree relatives (a parent or sibling), have a short time between the onset of fever and the seizure, had a low degree of fever before their seizure, or have a history of abnormal neurological signs or developmental delay. Children with a first prolonged<unk>  are not at increased risk of a recurrent<unk> ; however, if there is a recurrence, it is also likely to be prolonged. Similarly, the overall prognosis after a complex<unk>  is usually excellent. About 10-15% will eventually develop epilepsy but 85-90% will not. A single, very large study from Denmark suggested that, compared with the normal population, children with complex<unk> s had a slightly increased risk of death in the two years after their first<unk> . This increase appeared mostly to be related to the development of epilepsy or low birth weight, neonatal asphxyia and congenital malformations. Once two years had passed since their first<unk> , children with complex<unk> s no longer had an increased risk of death. Another, very large study from Denmark has explored the relationship between<unk> s and subsequent psychiatric disorders. “Compared to the group of children without seizures, the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder was marginally elevated for children with a history of<unk> s” during the ~20 years after the<unk> s. A continuing controversial issue is the relationship between prolonged<unk> s and temporal lobe epilepsy. This issue began with the observation that patients with drug resistant epilepsy beginning in one of their temporal lobes often showed the pathologic features of hippocampal sclerosis when the temporal lobe was surgically removed. The hippocampus is a part of the temporal lobe that is important for memory formation). Patients with hippocampal sclerosis often had preceding, very long<unk> s in infancy<unk>  Status Epilepticus<unk> E). Studies with very long, intense seizures in baboons found that the temporal lobe could be damaged by these seizures. However, not all hippocampal sclerosis is associated with<unk> E. Major questions that remain incompletely answered are: how often do prolonged<unk> s cause hippocampal sclerosis and how many children with hippocampal sclerosis develop drug resistant epilepsy? The first question has been addressed by two major studies. One MRI study of children with<unk> E (FEBSTAT) (>1 hour in most) found about 10% of children have one-sided hippocampal swelling within a few days of the<unk>  prolonged seizure. A year later about half of those with early hippocampal swelling had hippocampal sclerosis suggesting that about 5% of children with very long<unk>  later develop hippocampal sclerosis. How many of these children will develop drug resistant epilepsy is still unknown. Another MRI study found that shortly after<unk> E, swelling of both hippocampi was common but this resolved 4–8 months later without mesial temporal sclerosis. One long follow up study suggested that the risk of<unk>  status followed by hippocampal sclerosis and intractable temporal lobe epilepsy is low - approximately one of every 150 children.
Febrile seizure
Metabolic disorder
Reflex seizure
Meningitis
Musicogenic seizure
Non-epileptic seizure
Gelastic seizure
Focal seizure