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. 2016 Nov;64(Pt A):283-288.
doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2016.09.013. Epub 2016 Oct 26.

Cognitive functioning one month and one year following febrile status epilepticus

Erica F Weiss  1 , David Masur  2 , Shlomo Shinnar  3 , Dale C Hesdorffer  4 , Veronica J Hinton  5 , Melanie Bonner  6 , Julie Rinaldi  7 , Virginia Van de Water  8 , James Culbert  9 , Ruth C Shinnar  2 , Syndi Seinfeld  10 , William Gallentine  11 , Douglas R Nordli Jr  12 , L Mathew Frank  8 , Leon Epstein  13 , Solomon L Moshé  14 , Shumei Sun  15 ; FEBSTAT study team
Affiliations

Cognitive functioning one month and one year following febrile status epilepticus

Erica F Weiss et al. Epilepsy Behav. 2016 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine early developmental and cognitive outcomes of children with febrile status epilepticus (FSE) one month and one year after FSE.

Methods: One hundred ninety four children with FSE were evaluated on measures of cognition, receptive language, and memory as part of the FEBSTAT study and compared with 100 controls with simple febrile seizures (FSs).

Results: Children with FSE did not differ dramatically on tasks compared with FS controls at one month after FSE but demonstrated slightly weaker motor development (p=0.035) and receptive language (p=0.034) at one year after FSE. Performances were generally within the low average to average range. Within the FSE cohort, non-White children performed weaker on many of the tasks compared with Caucasian children. At the one-year visit, acute hippocampal T2 findings on MRI were associated with weaker receptive language skills (p=0.0009), and human herpes virus 6 or 7 (HHV6/7) viremia was associated with better memory performances (p=0.047).

Conclusion: Febrile status epilepticus does not appear to be associated with significant cognitive impairment on early developmental measures, although there is a trend for possible receptive language and motor delay one year after FSE. Further follow-up, which is in progress, is necessary to track long-term cognitive functioning.

Keywords: Children; Cognition; Febrile seizure; Febrile status epilepticus.

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