Effect of Recent Antipyretic Use on Measured Fever in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Abstract

Although many febrile infants seen in the pediatric ED have recently received antipyretics, only a few have received a therapeutic dose between 1 and 5 hours prior to arrival. Among febrile infants seen in the ED, recent antipyretic use is associated both with a higher reported Tmax and with higher measured temperatures at the ED. Patients treated with a therapeutic antipyretic dose 1 to 5 hours prior to arrival experience more defervescence from their Tmax than untreated subjects.

Evaluation of the incidence of occult bacteremia among children with fever of unknown origin

“…The main agent responsible for occult bacteremia was Streptococcus pneumoniae in our study, consistent with most previous studies [3,[17][18][19]. Streptococcus pneumoniae was associated with the rate (89%) of hospitalization (Table 4).…”

“…This is important because frequently the child is medicated with an antipyretic prior to arrival at the service, making a real assessment difficult [16,17].…”

Fever: A Literature Review of Perceptions, Perspectives and Practices

“…This may be due in part to enduring cultural beliefs and norms and inadequate continuing health literacy among caregivers and care providers. There is thus need for culturally sensitive and competent health literacy interventions to mitigate deleterious impacts of perceptions, perspectives and common practices related to home management of fever in this part of the world [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53].…”