
 lead is an element that expanded on the environment as a result of human activity during the past thousands of years .
lead poisoning is due to increased levels of lead in the body ( 1 ) and hasnt specific signs or symptoms .
lead is found in a variety of organs including the heart , bones , intestines , kidneys and nervous system , and enters in the body via air , water , soil and food ( 2 - 4 ) ; but food is the main way of entering , through contaminated grains and vegetables . 
 

years ago , literature emphasized on the toxic effects of lead including infertility , miscarriage and premature birth .
lead toxicity interferes with the normal development of central and peripheral nervous system ( 5 ) .
increase in blood lead levels over than 10 microgram per deciliter can decrease the memory , intelligence quotient , focus and attention ( 5 - 7 ) . 
 

various studies have shown that high levels of blood lead in pregnant women , even in limited quantities , can increase this element in the fetal blood ( 9 - 10 ) .
in other studies it was concluded that brain edema and finally irreversible brain damage may result from exposure to high levels of lead ( 11,12 ) . 
 
 in all studies
, it is concluded that lead poisoning in children causes severe disorders in the nervous system and leads to neuro developmental disabilities which may result in sensory , motor and cognitive impairments ( 13,14,22 ) .
seizures are the prevalent nervous disorders and all of seizures can result from exposure to variant poisons such as lead ( 21 ) .
febrile convulsions are seizures that appear during the course of an illness with a high fever in a child ( 21).therefore , it is important to examine the association between febrile convulsions and exposure to the lead . the diagnostic scale for lead poisoning is measuring the blood lead levels .
a study in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( als ) showed a significant association between lead levels in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid .
many studies in children have been done on blood lead levels , but there are few researches on the cerebrospinal fluid lead levels ( 15 - 17 ) .
assessment of cerebrospinal fluid levels and plasma levels of lead can help to further understanding of the mechanisms of its effects on the brain . 
 
 in some parts of the world including major cities of iran
, the air contains high level of emissions , and lead is the important ingredient in the emissions .
tehran is an industrial city and there is high level of lead in the air of tehran ( 18 ) . 
 

this study investigated the blood lead concentration and its association with convulsion in a group of febrile children that admitted to the pediatric ward of rasoulakram hospital and bahrami hospital in tehranin the year 2012 ad . 


 this cross - sectional study conductedin children admitted to pediatric wardof rasoulakram hospital and bahrami hospital in tehran .
research field consisted of hospitalized babies aged 1 - 72 months whom fever was detected by physical examination .
after permission from the university s ethic committee and hospital authorities , sixty babies , enrolled to the research via non - probability sampling ( convenience method ) .
a questionnaire was designed for data collection . 
 
 following the informed consent of all parents , all of babies underwent blood sampling
the blood lead levels measured by atomic absorption spectrometry method , then these values enrolled in the questionnaire . also other samples information including gender , age , weight and history of seizures recorded in the questionnaire . 
 

finally all of data transfered to the spss version 20 software for statistical analysis.p values of lower than 0.05 were considered statistically significant . 


 finally all of data transfered to the spss version 20 software for statistical analysis.p values of lower than 0.05 were considered statistically significant . 

40 of the samples ( 66.7% ) were male and 20 samples ( 33.3% ) were female .
the mean and standard deviation of sample s age was 32.57 38.27 months , ranging from one month to 168 months ( 14 years ) .
the mean and standard deviation of sample s blood lead level was 4.833.50g / dl .
the highest and lowest blood lead level in all samples was 14.80 and 0.3 g / dl . according to international standards , amounts of blood lead levels in 6 cases ( 10% ) was greater than 10g / dl and in 54 cases ( 90% ) was less than 10g / dl . 
 
 in general , seizure was found in 32 cases ( 53.3% ) and other cases ( 46.7% ) were seizure free . in samples with seizures ,
the mean and standard deviation of sample s blood lead level was 4.91 3.65g / dl , and 4 cases of samples with seizures ( 12.5% ) had blood lead levels above 10g / dl . 
 
 in samples without seizures ,
the mean and standard deviation of sample s blood lead level was 4.73 3.38 g / dl ; the 2 cases without seizures ( 7.14% ) had blood lead levels above 10g / dl . 
 

the mean of sample s blood lead levels in children with seizures and without seizures was nt significant difference ( p=0.8 ) . according to international standards ( blood lead levels above and below the 10g / dl ) , was nt significantly different between two groups ( p=0.67 ) . 
 

tables 1 to 4 show the frequency of variables and the p - value corresponding to the difference between two groups ( with seizure and without seizure ) . 


 this study showed that blood lead levels in babies with fever and a seizure ( febrile convulsion ) has no significant difference with those without seizure .
the results of this study is similar to findings of some other studies have concluded that higher levels of lead in the blood can cause neurological symptoms . in one study , noted that blood lead levels over than 10g / dl , may decreased intelligence and concentration , and impaired short term memory . in that study ,
blood lead levels of patients was not associated with fever and age of patients ( 3 ) .
the result of some other studies is different to the present study . in one study ,
2.1% of the children and 1.3 % of adults have blood lead levels above 10g / dl , that was lower than in our study ( 19 ) . in one study ,
blood lead levels in children with neurologic symptoms such as seizures was 19.3g / dl , compared with 11.69g / dl in the control group ; and blood lead levels in both groups were higher than in our study ( 20 ) . in some previous studies , high levels of blood lead levels
the study of woolf et al . found that trace amounts of lead ( less than 10g / dl ) can cause neurological disorders ( 4 ) .
but talia sanders study emphasizes that lead can passes from to blood - brain barrier in children .
meyer and colleagues emphasizes that lead can cause seizures , coma and death in the children ( 6 ) . in the study by bellinger , it was seen that severe intelligence decline and academic impairment is associated with less than 10g / dl of blood lead levels .
also in this study it was concluded that there is no safe level of lead exposure , and contact in low amounts on children causes neurodevelopment disorders ; so primary prevention of lead exposure is the most important mechanism ( 7 ) . 


 in this study , febrile convulsion in babies has no significant relationship with blood lead levels .
it is recommended that future studies be done by more samples to validate the results and to increase the ability of generalize the results to other populations .
moreover , the association of seizures and other neurological disorders should be evaluated with lead levels in various samples such as cerebrospinal fluid . 

 
 background : lead elements have an adverse effect on human health . 
 the most important complications of lead poisoning are disorders of nervous system particularly seizure .this study aimed to evaluate the blood lead levels and its association with convulsion in a group of hospitalized febrile children . 

 methods : in this analytic cross - sectional study , 60 hospitalized febrile children with 1- 60 month old participated in the study via non - probability convenience sampling method . 
 all of the information included sex , age , weight , blood lead levels and history of convulsion gathered in the questionnaire . 
 finally all of data were statistically 
 analyzed . 

 
 results : 66.7% of samples were male and 33.3% were female . 
 the mean age was 32.5738.27 months and the mean weight was 13.049.61 kg . 
 the mean and standard deviation of blood lead level was 4.833.50g / dl . 
 10% of samples had lead levels greater than 10g / dl . 
 53.3% of patients have convulsion and other do nt have it . 
 blood lead levels was 4.913.65g / dl in children with convulsion and 4.73 3.38g / dl in children without it ; 
 the difference was not significant ( p= 0.8 ) . 

 
 conclusion : overall , no significant association was found between blood lead levels and convulsion . 
 
Introduction
Methods
Statistical Analysis
Results
Discussion
Conclusion