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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffAlthough febrile seizures may cause great fear and concern for parents, most febrile seizures produce no lasting effects. Simple febrile seizures don't cause brain damage, mental retardation or learning disabilities, and they don't mean your child has a more serious underlying disorder, or the seizure disorder, epilepsy.
The odds that your child will develop epilepsy after a febrile seizure are small. Only a small percentage of children who have a febrile seizure go on to develop epilepsy, but not because of the febrile seizures. Children with epilepsy sometimes have their first seizures during fevers.
Recurrent febrile seizures
The most common complication of febrile seizures is the possibility of more febrile seizures. About a third of children who have a febrile seizure will have another one with a subsequent fever.
The risk of recurrence is higher if:
- Your child had a low fever at the time of the first febrile seizure
- The period between the start of the fever and the seizure was short
- An immediate family member has a history of febrile seizures
Also, the younger a child is when the first febrile seizure occurs, the more likely he or she is to have more.
