Effect and safety of Levetiracetam for the prevention of febrile seizure recurrence in children

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Levetiracetam(LEV) for prophylaxis of febrile seizures(FS) recurrence in children and provide a new approach to treatment. Methods Approved by their guardians, 63 cases were collected from the inpatients or outpatients in Jiangxi Children's Hospital from Aug.to Nov.2011.They were randomly divided into a control group, low dose LEV group and high dose LEV group.When they had a fever of 38.5 ℃ or higher, only antipyretic was given in the control group.However, LEV was given to the other 2 groups additionally and dosages were: high dose group, D1-D7(30 mg/kg), D8-D12(20 mg/kg), D13-D15(10 mg/kg), twice a day; low dose group, D1-D7(15 mg/kg), D8-D12(10 mg/kg), D13-D15(5 mg/kg), twice a day.All patients were followed-up every 3 months for 1 year, recording the frequency of fever and seizures recurrence, medication compliance and side effects. Results Eleven cases, 4 cases and 3 cases experienced FS recurrences in the control group, the low dose group and high dose group, respectively, and the recurrence rates were 52.38%, 19.05% and 14.29%, respectively.The average episodes of FS recurrence were (0.76±1.00) times, (0.19±0.40) times and (0.14±0.36) times per year among 3 groups, respectively.The recurrence rate of FS in control group was higher than that in treatment groups(P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between 2 treatment groups(P=0.951). Two cases who had mild somnolence in low dose group and only 1 case had mild excitement, impulse and bad-tempered slightly in high dose group.The rates of side effects were 9.52%(2/21 cases)and 4.76%(1/21 case), and there was no significant difference between them(P=1.000). Conclusions LEV can effectively prevent the recurrence of FS in children, and the efficacy of the low dose group is similar to that of the high dose group.Compared with the high dose group, there are less side effects but well-tolerance in the low dose group. Key words: Febrile seizures; Recurrence; Levetiracetam; Prevention