Introduction: Febrile convulsion is a common neurological disorder in children. There are various hypotheses about oxidative stress, changes in rare elements and their role in the febrile convulsion pathogenesis. According to the protective role of selenium as an antioxidant in the body's immune system; this study aimed to compare the selenium level in febrile convulsion cases and healthy children.

Materials & methods: In this case-control study 36 children with febrile seizure were compared with 36 healthy controls whose were almost matched for age and sex. The serum selenium level was measured with the atomic absorption spectrometer.

Findings: The average levels of selenium in patients and healthy subjects were 89/58±19/28 µg/L and 101/09±17/70 µg/L, respectively. As the statistical analysis showed, average levels of selenium in patients was significantly lower than the healthy group. Also, there was no statistically significant relationship between the mean serum selenium level and demographic factors such as family history of seizures, age, sex, and body temperature of the patient.

Discussion & conclusions: With evaluation of the present study it can be concluded that there is selenium deficiency in children with febrile convulsioncompared to healthy children. Therefore this element  may have a remarkable role in febrile convulsion disease.