Do Antipyretics Prevent Febrile Seizures?

As many as 5% of children ages 6 months to 6 years experience febrile seizure — defined as seizure associated with fever in the absence of intracranial infection, epilepsy, or other known causes of seizure — and as many as 30% of these children experience recurrences. Because some prostaglandins have been shown to inhibit seizures in animal studies and because antipyretic agents have different effects on prostaglandin synthesis, investigators in Japan compared the effects of antipyretics on recurrence of febrile seizures. In a 2-year, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, 231 children (age range, 4 months to 4 years) who had experienced a first febrile seizure received placebo or diclofenac suppository (1.5 mg/kg), followed by…