Risk of early febrile seizure with perinatal exposure to nucleoside analogues

The frequency of seizures was studied in a prospective cohort of French children born to HIV-1-infected mothers. The analysis was restricted to the 4426 uninfected children, whether or not exposed to antiretrovirals. 81 convulsions were reported up to the age of 18 months, and 30 children fulfilled the criteria for simple febrile seizures. The risk of first febrile seizure was higher for children perinatally exposed to antiretrovirals than for those not exposed (log-rank test: p=0·0198). A similar trend was noted for other non-neonatal seizures (p=0·0537) but not for neonatal seizures.