Fever in children: how to minimise risk and provide appropriate therapy

Abstract

The management of fever in children is a subject that garners many different opinions and interventions. Various approaches seem to be acceptable, from the physician who never uses antipyretic medication, to the use of multiple combination therapies. Following the recent publication of guidelines for the management of acute fever in children, there is now a standard against which fever in children should be managed. These guidelines aim to standardise the process of examining pyrexial children, elicit a reasonable history and then investigate the likely illnesses, so as to justify appropriate therapy.

Efficacy and Tolerability of Intravenous Paracetamol Compared to Oral Paracetamol for the Treatment of Childhood Fever

“…11 Research on the tolerability of paracetamol has been widely performed. 3,8,9,15,19 Tolerability, in the form of adverse event of intravenous and oral administration of paracetamol evaluated in this study, did not show significant differences. Nausea and vomiting in this study could be caused by given drug or by the underlying disease.…”

“…4,5 Paracetamol is the safest antipyretic used in children and has complete route of administration. [6][7][8][9] Research on adults suggests the administration of accessible intravenous paracetamol is more effective than oral paracetamol and well tolerated in patients with fever due to endotoxin, but limited data on the use of intravenous paracetamol in children. 10 In children, administration of intravenous paracetamol were also more effective than the administration of rectal paracetamol.…”

Intravenous and Oral Paracetamol Have the Same Effect in Reducing Fever in Pediatric Patients

“…Fever management for children utilizes different approaches. 1 It is not a disease, but a physiological mechanism functioning to fight infection. 2 Fever is defined as rectal temperature of ≥38.0⁰C.…”