Febrile convulsions, or seizures during fever, are unique to pediatrics. Such children often cause panic and anxiety to their parents. In fact, pediatric febrile convulsions are a common pediatric emergency that is usually not life-threatening and mostly does not affect the child’s intelligence. What are febrile convulsions? Most children have febrile seizures when they have a respiratory infection or other illness with fever, and most of these seizures are characterized by loss of consciousness, rolling of the eyes, clenching of the teeth, and twitching of the limbs. Most of the convulsions occur during high fever (sometimes low fever can also occur) and last for a relatively short period of time, mostly resolving on their own within 5 minutes. After the convulsions stop, the child is awake and generally in good condition. Usually there is only one convulsion in the course of a single illness. The cause of febrile convulsions may be related to the child’s developing brain tissue being “sensitive” to heat, and is clearly age-dependent, with the preferred age of onset being 6 months to 6 years, and stopping spontaneously after 6 years of age. 25% have a family history. The febrile convulsions can be divided into simple and complex types. The clinical characteristics of simple febrile convulsions can be summarized as more, less, with, without, early, short, positive, and good. (1) they occur mostly in children aged 6 months to 6 years; (2) there is only one seizure during a fever, mostly full-blown seizures; (3) there is often a family history of febrile convulsions; (4) there are no positive signs of neurological diseases; (5) they often appear in the early stage of fever (24 hours after fever); (6) the duration of each seizure is short, lasting no more than 15 minutes; (7) the EEG examination is normal one week after the fever subsides; (8) the prognosis is generally good. The characteristics of complex febrile convulsions are: (1) prolonged seizures (often lasting more than 15 minutes); (2) cluster seizures (recurrent seizures greater than or equal to 2 in one febrile episode, especially within 24 hours); (3) confined seizures and/or post-ictal neurological abnormalities; (4) history of neurological injury, such as cerebral palsy or developmental delay. What should parents do when their child has a convulsion? When a child has a convulsion, parents are often very alarmed and overwhelmed. Some parents pinch the child’s midsection, and some parents try to control the child’s twitching limbs, which are inappropriate because they often have no effect and can pinch the child’s tender skin, even causing fractures. 2.What should parents do in case of convulsions? (1) keep quiet, prohibit all unnecessary stimulation; (2) the child’s head to the side, so as to avoid the child’s vomit and secretions and other accidental suction asphyxiation; (3) quickly tongue depressor (available gauze wrapped chopsticks or spoon handle instead) placed in the child’s mouth, to avoid tongue bite; (4) quickly undo the child’s clothes, so that the child breathes smoothly and heat dissipation; (5) do not feed antipyretic drugs through the mouth, can (6) When the child’s convulsions stop, send the child to the hospital immediately; if the convulsions do not stop for more than 3-5 minutes, do not wait and send the child to the nearest doctor immediately. Prognosis and prevention of febrile convulsions The incidence of febrile convulsions in children is about 2% to 4%. About 1/3 of children with febrile convulsions have a second convulsion, 1/2 of the latter have a third convulsion, and about 1/10 have 3 or more recurrences. Febrile convulsions rarely affect brain development, intelligence, and behavior unless the convulsions are prolonged (e.g., long-range convulsions of 20-30 minutes). Although febrile convulsions are different from epilepsy and most children have a good prognosis, each convulsive seizure will more or less affect the child physically and psychologically, and there is a great psychological pressure on the child’s parents, so it is extremely important to know how to prevent or reduce the recurrence of febrile convulsions. 1, to reduce the occurrence of the original disease and timely antipyretic fever febrile convulsions almost always appear in children with respiratory infections and other diseases caused by high fever, therefore, should try to avoid the occurrence of repeated respiratory infections and other diseases; fever should be timely antipyretic, antipyretic drugs can be preferred acetaminophen or ibuprofen. 2, how to prevent febrile convulsions preventive treatment is mainly the application of anti-epileptic drugs for intermittent short-course prevention or long-term prevention. Intermittent short-course prophylaxis: febrile convulsions are generally not recommended for prophylaxis, but in clinical practice, when febrile convulsions are of long duration (>15 min), have recurrence or have risk factors for epilepsy, oral diazepam can be used for short-term intermittent prophylaxis at the beginning of the febrile process. Continuous uninterrupted prophylaxis: mainly used for children with frequent seizures or febrile convulsions that cannot be prevented by intermittent short courses of medication, and can be treated with long-term oral doses of phenobarbital or sodium valproate for a period of about 2-3 years. In the following cases, it is possible that they are not febrile convulsions If the following symptoms occur, pay attention to exclude diseases such as encephalitis or epilepsy. 1. Convulsions occur without high fever; 2. Convulsions last for a long time, especially long convulsions of 20-30 minutes; 3. Convulsions are accompanied by vomiting and poor mental status; 4. After the convulsions stop, consciousness does not fully recover or limb activities are different from usual. For example, stiffness, trembling and paralysis of the limbs; 5. frequent convulsive episodes during one illness; 6. twitching not of the whole body but of a certain part of the body; 7. convulsions in infants under 6 months of age and children over 6 years of age. In conclusion, febrile convulsions are common childhood emergencies, closely related to fever, age-dependent, and most have a good prognosis. Parents should not panic when their child has a convulsive episode, master basic first aid measures, and seek medical attention in a timely manner. At the same time, the occurrence of febrile convulsions can be reduced by focusing on prevention and avoiding repeated infections.