The predictive role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in children with simple febrile seizures

Aim: To evaluate the predictive roles of biochemical and complete blood count parameters in the diagnosis of febrile seizures by comparing these between patients with simple febrile seizures and febrile patients without seizures. Methods: One hundred fifty-two children (66 girls and 86 boys), aged 6-60 months presenting with fever symptoms presenting to our hospital’s pediatric emergency department between January 2015 and January 2020 were included in the study. Demographic data, complete blood count parameters and biochemical parameter levels were compared between the two groups. These were divided into a patient group with simple febrile seizures (n = 74) and a febrile control group without seizures (n = 78). Results: Comparison of biochemical parameters revealed significantly higher glucose, CRP, and ALT levels in the febrile seizure group, while Ca and Na were significantly lower. Comparison of complete blood count parameters revealed significantly higher white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil, red cell distribution width, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) values in the febrile seizure group, while hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, lymphocytes, and mean platelet volume were significantly lower. Conclusions: We think that in addition to markers such as WBC, leukocytes, and CRP for evaluating inflammation in patients with febrile seizures, simple, easily available, and inexpensive tests such as NLR and PLR can also be useful for assessing inflammation.