title: Maternal use of antibiotics and the risk of childhood febrile seizures: a Danish population-based cohort.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In a large population-based cohort in Denmark to examine if maternal use of antibiotics during pregnancy, as a marker of infection, increases the risk of febrile seizures in childhood in a large population-based cohort in Denmark.
  
  
  METHODS
  All live-born singletons born in Denmark between January 1, 1996 and September 25, 2004 and who were alive on the 90(th) day of life were identified from the Danish National Birth Registry. Diagnoses of febrile seizures were obtained from the Danish National Hospital Register and maternal use of antibiotics was obtained from the National Register of Medicinal Product Statistics. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated by Cox proportional hazard regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We followed 551,518 singletons for up to 5 years and identified a total of 21,779 children with a diagnosis of febrile seizures. Slightly increased hazard ratios were observed among most exposure groups when compared to the unexposed group, ex. HR 1.08 95% CI: 1.05-1.11 for use of any systemic antibiotic during pregnancy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found weak associations between the use of pharmacologically different antibiotics during pregnancy and febrile seizures in early childhood which may indicate that some infections, or causes or effects of infections, during pregnancy could affect the fetal brain and induce susceptibility to febrile seizures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America. jemille@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Jessica E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Lars Henning
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Mogens
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vestergaard
authors.forename: Jørn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012306:Risk; D003294:Seizures, Febrile / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents