What causes seizures in children?

Convulsions in children are a relatively common emergency, which mainly causes systemic or local spasms in children. Most children will experience this phenomenon. There are many causes of convulsions in children, such as infection, intracranial disease, metabolic abnormalities, etc. Therefore, when parents find abnormal behavior in their children, they should find the relevant causes in time.

What are the causes of convulsions in children?

1. Infection. It is common in meningitis, encephalitis, brain abscess, sepsis, tetanus, etc., with purulent meningitis and sepsis being the most common. For babies with intrauterine infection, convulsions occur within 3 days after birth, while for babies with postnatal infection, convulsions are more common after 1 week after birth. Neonatal febrile seizures are rare.

2. Intracranial diseases. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. It accounts for 60%-70% of the causes of convulsions, and convulsions are more common within 24 hours after birth; hypoxic and birth traumatic intracranial hemorrhage: convulsions are more common 2-3 days after birth; cerebral infarction: mostly middle cerebral artery infarction, convulsions are more common 1-4 days after birth.

3. Medicine. Drug overdose or poisoning. Such as stimulants, aminophylline, organophosphates, etc. Withdrawal syndrome: Anesthetics and phenobarbital drugs used by pregnant mothers can pass through the placenta into the fetus. The drug supply is suddenly interrupted after delivery, and convulsions often occur within 6 hours after birth, and return to normal within 24-48 hours.

4. Metabolic abnormalities. Hypoglycemia, which often occurs within 3 days after birth; hypocalcemia, including early-onset seizures occurring 1-3 days after birth and late-onset seizures occurring 1-2 weeks after birth; hypomagnesemia, which often coexists with late-onset hypocalcemia; hypercalcemia or hyponatremia; vitamin B6 deficiency: seizures occur from a few hours to 2 weeks after birth and are ineffective with sedatives; bilirubin encephalopathy; abnormal amino acid metabolism: maple syrup urine disease, phenylketonuria, hyperglycinemia, etc.

5. Congenital malformations of the central nervous system. Hydrocephalus, cerebral hypoplasia, microcephaly, etc.

6. Other reasons. Diseases such as polycythemia, galactosemia, and hypertensive encephalopathy may also cause convulsions in newborns.