Kwak BO, et al. - This meta-analysis strived to ascertain a relationship between iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and febrile seizures (FS) in children. The authors found an association between IDA with an increased risk of FS in children.

Methods

• Using the following keywords, the authors searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases for studies published up to August 2015: [“iron deficiency” OR “iron status”] AND [“febrile seizure” OR “febrile convulsion”] and [“pediatric” OR “infant” OR “child”].
• They calculated pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using standard meta-analysis techniques.
• Moreover, they performed subgroup analysis.

Results

• The authors included 17 studies enrolling 2416 children with FS and 2387 controls in the meta-analysis.
• The outcomes demonstrated that IDA was significantly associated with FS (OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.26–3.13; P = 0.003).
• Subgroup analyses assessed the diagnostic indices for IDA including serum iron, plasma ferritin, and mean corpuscular volume (MCV).
• As per findings, IDA diagnosed on the basis of plasma ferritin (OR, 3.78; 95% CI, 1.80–7.94; P < 0.001) or MCV (OR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.36–3.17; P = 0.001) was modestly associated with FS, while IDA diagnosed on the basis of two serum iron studies was not associated with FS (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.24–1.37; P = 0.210).