List of causes of an afebrile seizure in a child presenting to the accident and emergency department
| Type of seizure (% of non- febrile seizures) | Cause |
|---|---|
| Isolated seizure (25%) | No cause found |
| Epilepsy (30%) | Idiopathic, complex partial, Rolandic, etc. |
| Symptomatic seizure (30%) | CNS structural abnormalities (congenital, prenatal or perinatal, shunt obstruction) |
| Intracranial infection (bacterial/viral, diffuse/localised) | |
| Ingestion (deliberate, accidental) | |
| Trauma (head injury, non accidental injury) | |
| Tumour | |
| Intracranial haemorrhage | |
| Hypertension | |
| Metabolic (low glucose, calcium, magnesium, high and low sodium, amino and organic acidurias, etc) | |
| Anoxic (breath holding attacks, respiratory pathology) | |
| Neurocutaneous syndromes | |
| CNS degenerative diseases | |
| Neonatal/early infant seizure (<3 months) (15%) | In addition to the above causes: |
| Hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (from birth) | |
| CNS infections (acute and congenital) | |
| Fifth day fits | |
| Drug withdrawal | |
| Pyridoxine dependency | |
| Other diagnoses (not true seizures) | Reflex anoxic “seizures” syncope, arrhythmias, seudoseizures |