علل تشنج در بيماران مبتلا به گاسترو آنتريت حاد

CONVULSION CAUSES IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE GASTROENTERITIS

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: There are many causes in acute gastroenteritis that result convulsion such as fever, electrolyte imbalances, meningitis and sometimes toxins. The aim of this study was to evaluate the convulsion causes in these patients. METHODS: This prospective and descriptive study was performed on 34 patients with acute gastroenteritis and convulsion admitted in Amirkola children hospital during may 2002 to November 2002 on the basis of questionable titles. The patients were assessed according to fever, electrolyte imbalances, stool smear and culture. FINDINGS: In this study, 34 patients between 7 months to 10 years were assessed that 22 cases were male and 12 were female. Ninety seven percent of the patients were febrile and the most of them had temperature below 390C (70.5%). 11.7% had hyponatremic electrolyte imbalances that were equal in both sexes. The convulsion was more common in males than females (1.83 fold), exclusively generalized form and frequently in 2-3 years old (26.4%). 56% had Iethargic decreasing level of consciousness, 79.4% of them hadnʹt past history and 70% hadnʹt familial history of convulsion. 53% had positive stool smear and 11.76% had positive stool culture (stool culture was exclusively shigellosis) and one case had positive blood culture (G+ Bacillus). CONCLUSION: The findings show that fever and electrolyte imbalances are two important factors of causing convulsion in the patients with acute gastroenteritis. Thus, management of these noting factors is important in prevention of convulsion.