Febrile seizures and risk of schizophrenia

Vestergaard, Mogens; Pedersen, Carsten Bøcker; Christensen, Jakob; Madsen, Kreesten Meldgaard; Olsen, Jørn; Mortensen, Preben Bo

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2004.07.004

« Previous Next »Schizophrenia Research
Volume 73, Issue 2 , Pages 343-349, 1 March 2005

Febrile seizures and risk of schizophrenia

Mogens Vestergaard
- The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, building 260, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +45 8942 6070; fax: +45 8613 1580.
Carsten Bøcker Pedersen
- National Centre for Register-based Research, University of Aarhus, Taasingegade 1, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Jakob Christensen
- Centre for Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, University of Aarhus, Wilh. Meyers Alle, building 240, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Kreesten Meldgaard Madsen
- The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, building 260, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Jørn Olsen
- The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, building 260, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Preben Bo Mortensen
- National Centre for Register-based Research, University of Aarhus, Taasingegade 1, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

Received 29 March 2004; accepted 1 July 2004.

Abstract

Background

Febrile seizure is a benign condition for most children, but experiments in animals and neuroimaging studies in humans suggest that some febrile seizures may damage the hippocampus, a brain area of possible importance in schizophrenia.

Methods

A population-based cohort of all children born in Denmark between January 1977 and December 1986 was followed until December 2001 by using data from nationwide registries.

Results

We followed 558958 persons including 16429 with a history of febrile seizures for 2.8 million person-years and identified 952 persons who were diagnosed with schizophrenia. A history of febrile seizures was associated with a 44% increased risk of schizophrenia [relative risk (RR)=1.44; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.07–1.95] after adjusting for confounding factors. The association between febrile seizures and schizophrenia remained virtually unchanged when restricting the analyses to people with no history of epilepsy. A history of both febrile seizures and epilepsy was associated with a 204% increased risk of schizophrenia (RR=3.04; 95% CI, 1.36–6.79) as compared with people with no such history.

Conclusions

We found a slightly increased risk of schizophrenia among persons with a history of febrile seizures. The association may be due to a damaging effect of prolonged febrile seizures on the developing brain, shared etiological factors, or confounding by unmeasured factors.

Keywords: Febrile seizure, Schizophrenia