association of iron deficiency anemia and febrile seizure in asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: current findings suggest that iron deficiency anemia (ida) may be a predisposing factor for febrile seizure (fs), while some studies show the lower prevalence of ida in the children with fs.the present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to elucidate the association between ida and fs.methods: a comprehensive search was performed using mesh keywords in databases such as pubmed, scopus, embase, sciencedirect, web of science, and google scholar without time limit until 2017. cochrane test and i² index were used for the evaluation of heterogeneity among the retrieved studies. data analysis was performed in comprehensive meta-analysis (cma) software version 2.results: in total, 38 studies conducted on 3,738 cases and 3,720 controls were reviewed in this meta-analysis. considering the significant heterogeneity (i²=87.981; p<0.001), the odds ratio (or) was combined using the random effects model. the pooled results indicated that ida significantly increased the risk of fs (or=2.36; 95% confidence interval [ci]: 1.72-3.24; p<0.0001). meta-analysis was performed based on the simple febrile convulsion (fc) and first febrile convulsion (ffc), and or was estimated at 2.98 (95% ci: 1.67-5.31; p<0.001) and 2.23 (95% ci: 1.33-3.73; p<0.001), respectively. in the subgroup analysis of the studies conducted in iran, india, and pakistan, or was determined at 1.06 (95% ci: 0.71-1.58), 4.21 (95% ci: 2.97-5.97), and 2.22 (95% ci: 1.70-2.90), respectively, which revealed significant differences in this regard (p<0.001).conclusion: according to the results, ida is a predisposing factor for fc. therefore, children with fs must be examined for the risk of ida