Increased number of febrile seizures in children born very preterm: relation of neonatal, febrile and epileptic seizures and neurological dysfunction to seizure outcome at 16 years of age.

Purpose: In prematurely born population, a cascade of events from initial injury in the developing brain to morbidity may be followed. The aim of our study was to assess seizures in prematurely born children from birth up to 16 years and to evaluate the contribution of different seizures, and of neurological dysfunction to the seizure outcome.

Methods: Pre- and neonatal data and data from neurodevelopmental examination at 5 years of 60 prospectively followed children born at or before 32 weeks of gestation, and of 60 matched term controls from the 2 year birth cohort were available from earlier phases of the study.