Author(s)

Abdoul Karim Doumbia^1*, Oumou Koné², Guédiouma Dembélé³, Adama Dembelé¹, Oumar Coulibaly¹, Hawa Gouro Diall¹, Karamoko Sacko¹, Amadou Touré¹, Pierre Togo¹, Abdoul Aziz Diakité¹, Mohamed Elmouloud Cissé¹, Belco Maiga¹, Djeneba Konaté¹, Fatoumata Léonie Diakité³, Lala N’drainy Sidibe¹, Fousseyni Traoré¹, Adama Bah¹, Djibril Kassogue¹, Boubacar Togo¹, Madou Traoré¹

¹Department of Pediatrics at CHU Gabriel Touré, Bamako, Mali.
²National Institute of Public Health, Bamako, Mali.
³Mohammed VI Perinatal Clinic, Bamako, Mali.

Introduction: convulsion is a frequent cause of neurological and cognitive sequelae and then of epilepsy. The objective of this work was to describe the socio-demographic, clinical, therapeutic, and evolutionary aspects. Methodology: This was a descriptive retrospective study carried out in the general pediatrics department of CHU-Gabriel Touré. It took place over a period of 02 years from January 2017 to December 2018. We included all children aged 1 to 59 months hospitalized in the ward for convulsion. Results: During the study period, 2653 children aged 2 months to 59 months were hospitalized in the general pediatric ward. We included 288 medical records of children who presented with a seizure on admission. Convulsions represented 11% of pediatric hospitalizations from 1 month to 59 months. The average age was 29 months. Fever was present in 86% of patients. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) test was positive in 38 patients. Hypoglycemia was present in 14 patients. Serum calcium was low in 3 patients. The most implicated etiologies were malaria 70%, meningitis 20%, and dehydration 13%. Management consisted of airway clearance, oxygen therapy as needed, and administration of diazepam (54%). Antibiotics were prescribed in 77% of cases and antimalarials in 70%. The average length of hospital stay was 8 days with extremes of 1 and 30 days. The outcome was favorable in 95% of cases. Sequelae were observed in 5% of cases and one case of death was observed. Conclusion: Acute convulsions are one of the most common causes of hospitalization in children under 5 years old. The causes were dominated by infectious diseases (malaria, meningitis). The appropriate course of action was the administration of diazepam rectally.

Convulsions, Child, Infant, Prognosis, Sub-Saharan Africa

Doumbia, A. , Koné, O. , Dembélé, G. , Dembelé, A. , Coulibaly, O. , Diall, H. , Sacko, K. , Touré, A. , Togo, P. , Diakité, A. , Cissé, M. , Maiga, B. , Konaté, D. , Diakité, F. , Sidibe, L. , Traoré, F. , Bah, A. , Kassogue, D. , Togo, B. and Traoré, M. (2021) Seizures in Children under Five in a Pediatric Ward: Prevalence, Associated Factors and Outcomes. Open Journal of Pediatrics, 11, 627-635. doi: 10.4236/ojped.2021.114058.