aetiology of neonatal seizures
Last reviewed 01/2018
Possible causes of convulsions in a neonate include:
- birth asphyxia or hypoxia - about half of all neonatal seizures
- birth injury with haemorrhage
- CNS infections eg such as meningitis, encephalitis - accounting for about 10% of cases. In addition to this, congenital infections are also important.
- CNS malformations
- hypoglycaemia - about 10% of cases
- hypocalcaemia - about 10% of cases
- hyponatraemia or hypernatraemia
- hyperbilirubinaemia
- hypomagnesaemia
- inherited metabolic disorders - inborn errors of metabolism. One particular error to pay attention to, if only because the treatment is easy although the condition is rare, is pyridoxine deficiency.
- narcotic withdrawal if the mother is an addict
- benign familial neonatal convulsions - fifth day fits
intraventricular haemorrhage in neonates
central nervous system congenital malformations
maternal drug abuse during pregnancy