Objective Seizures are the most frequent manifestation of serious diseases, in premature and term newborns. Experimental data suggest that neonatal seizures may have a deleterious effect on the developing brain. In the present prospective and case control study, we try to show the incidence of seizure, its causes and outcomes for the patients in our area since 2007.

Methods We evaluated the files of 54 cases that had signs and symptoms of at least a form of seizure eg: tonic, clonic, subtle and myoclonic. First, data including gestational age, gender, weight, birth history, delivery type and its problems, address, duration of stay in ward, kind of seizure and its treatment, patient’s general condition when discharged, were collected and recorded on special forms. Then, data were analyzed in SPSS.

Results 18 patients (33%) were premature, 30% had metabolic disorders, there was prenatal asphyxia in 13 newborns (25%), CNS infection/sepsis in 5 cases (10%) and drug withdrawal in 1 patient (2%)

Conclusions Observation of these different types of neonatal seizures may assist in discovering etiological factors and in formulating a prognosis. Time of onset may be useful as certain etiologies are more likely to occur early (first 24 hours) while others typically occur later in the neonatal period. Our results showed that many neonatal seizures are preventable. It seems more than one factor of potential etiological significance was present in several babies.