To the best of our knowledge, no study has been performed to measure the frequency of febrile convulsions in patients with major thalassemia in Khouzestan, southwest Iran. We aimed to assess the relative frequency of febrile convulsion in children with major thalassemia comparing to a group of healthy children to theorize that higher serum levels of Iron in children with major thalassemia might have a protective role against febrile convulsions

in these children. This cross sectional study was performed in Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, southwest Iran from April 2010 to April 2011. Data were collected using related questionnaires. We enrolled 363 patients with major thalassemia over the age of 5 who referred to the thalassemia clinics of Shafa, Abuzar, and Naft Hospitals in Ahvaz as the case group. The patients were confirmed Selleck Screening Library as having major thalassemia based on their history, medical records, blood tests, and hemoglobin electrophoresis. In the control group, 363 healthy children with an age range of 4–7 years who had INCB018424 clinical trial referred to healthcare centers in Ahvaz for growth monitoring and vaccination were also selected after informing their

parents about the aims of the study. A trained nurse interviewed the participants regarding their demographic information, history of febrile convulsion, age of the initial onset of convulsion, number of recurrent febrile convulsions, history of febrile convulsions in first degree relatives, familial history of epilepsy, developmental condition, history of related hospital admission, type of febrile convulsion, history of anti-convulsant intake, MRIP and history of hypoparathyroidism. A precise history regarding the patients’ febrile convulsion

and their medical records was taken. In order to prevent bias, the control group was selected from healthy children who had only referred to the healthcare centers for routine growth assessment. If the patients were admitted to the hospitals, their medical records were used to diagnose febrile convulsion. If the medical records were unavailable, febrile convulsion was confirmed based on a previous diagnosis made by a pediatrician or family physician. Febrile convulsion was considered if the seizures were accompanied by fever and no signs of other diseases such as meningitis, encephalitis, and colitis or history of psychomotor retardation, epilepsy, or brain tumor were present. In the case group, we included patients with beta thalassemia major who had experienced febrile convulsion, neither have psychomotor retardation nor suffer from meningitis, encephalitis, and colitis during seizures, with the informed consent of their parents. Patients whose parents were incapable of remembering the accurate history of convulsions were excluded from our study.