A febrile seizure (FS) is a disorder that presents between 3 months and 6 years of age with convulsions and fever but without evidence of intracranial infection or defined cause.
Population studies have found the vast majority of children have an excellent prognosis after FS.
These studies demonstrate that the risk of developing epilepsy after FS is not much greater than in the general population; there is no evidence that the seizures influence cognitive functioning; and very few children require treatment with prophylactic antiepileptic medication.
These studies also demonstrate that clinical factors alone can be used to establish the prognosis and that laboratory investigations are of little value in this regard.