Skip to main content
Download PDF

Volume 15 Supplement 3

Sepsis 2011

A survey of fever management in febrile intensive care patients without neurological injury

Critical Care volume 15, Article number: P18 (2011) Cite this article

Introduction

Fever is a common observation during critical illness [1, 2] and may be due to many possible causes such as infection, sterile inflammation and neurological injury. Clinical trials of fever management lack sufficient methodological quality to answer the question of whether attempts at reduction in temperature improves patient-centred outcomes in patients with sepsis, inflammation or neurological injury [3–7]. We undertook a survey to describe the attitudes of critical care clinicians in Australia and New Zealand towards fever management in critically ill patients without neurological injury or hyperthermic syndromes.

Methods

An online scenario-based questionnaire survey was distributed to medical and nursing members of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group (ANZICS-CTG) and their intensive care colleagues. Main outcome measures: the choice of drug and preferred threshold temperature for intervention with antipyretics in clinical practice and in a clinical trial.

Results

There were 588 email invitations distributed through the ANZICS-CTG and Research Coordinator mailing list. Four hundred and forty-seven responses were received from 308 nurses (69%), 137 doctors (31%), and two others (0.5%). The majority of respondents having more than 8 years of experience (62%) worked in mixed medical and surgical units (84%) in a metropolitan or tertiary hospital setting (77%). The primary findings of our survey suggest that fever management is highly variable. Most clinicians administer an intervention to reduce temperature at or below 39°C (Figure 1); and initially use a combination of both pharmacological and physical interventions, with an increase in intensity of physical interventions for persistent fever (Figure 2). There were differences between the professions, with doctors choosing higher temperature thresholds for intervention and nurses generally using more physical cooling (Figure 1 and Table 1); fourthly, temperature thresholds for a clinical trial were 39.0°C (SD = 0.7°C) for a permissive strategy and 38.0°C (SD = 0.75°C) for an intensive strategy; finally, there was broad support for a clinical trial of fever management.

Figure 1
figure1

Thresholds for initiation of antipyretic interventions between professions. Nurse/other (n = 289); doctor (n = 134) (P < 0.0001).

Full size image
Figure 2
figure2

First-line and second-line treatment preferences for fever management ( n = 458).

Full size image
Table 1 Preference of first-line and second-line interventional category of antipyretic by profession
Full size table

Conclusion

This survey suggests there is considerable clinical variability in fever management in patients with sepsis and without neurological injury or hyperthermic syndromes. At present, no particular management strategy is known to be superior to any other and it remains possible that current practice may be harming substantial numbers of patients. A temperature threshold of up to 40°C may be acceptable to clinicians for the design of a future randomized controlled trial. Further observational data may be informative for the design of such clinical trials.

References

  1. 1.

    Laupland KB, Shahpori R, Kirkpatrick AW, Ross T, Gregson DB, Stelfox HT: Occurrence and outcome of fever in critically ill adults. Crit Care Med 2008, 36: 1531-1535. 10.1097/CCM.0b013e318170efd3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. 2.

    Ryan M, Levy M: Clinical review: fever in intensive care unit patients. Crit Care 2003, 7: 221-225. 10.1186/cc1879

    PubMed Central  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. 3.

    Bernard GR, Wheeler AP, Russell JA, et al.: The effects of ibuprofen on the physiology and survival of patients with sepsis. The Ibuprofen in Sepsis Study Group. N Engl J Med 1997, 336: 912-918. 10.1056/NEJM199703273361303

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. 4.

    Hammond NE, Boyle M: Pharmacological versus non-pharmacological antipyretic treatments in febrile critically ill patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Aust Crit Care 2011, 24: 4-17. 10.1016/j.aucc.2010.11.002

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. 5.

    Schulman CI, Namias N, Doherty J, et al.: The effect of antipyre tic therapy upon outcomes in critically ill patients: a randomized, prospective study. Surg Infect 2005, 6: 369-375. 10.1089/sur.2005.6.369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. 6.

    Saxena M, Andrews P, Cheng A: Modest cooling therapies (35°C to 37.5°C) for traumatic brain injury. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008, 3: CD006811.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. 7.

    Jefferies S, Weatherall M, Young P, et al.: The effect of antipyretic medications on mortality in critically ill patients with infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Care Resusc 2011, 13: 125-131.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    MK Saxena, NE Hammond, C Taylor & J Myburgh

  2. St George Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    MK Saxena & J Myburgh

  3. St George Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    MK Saxena & J Myburgh

  4. Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia

    C Taylor

  5. Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand

    P Young

  6. Austin Hospital &, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    MC Reade & R Bellomo

Authors
  1. MK Saxena
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. NE Hammond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C Taylor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. P Young
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. MC Reade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. R Bellomo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. J Myburgh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to MK Saxena.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Saxena, M., Hammond, N., Taylor, C. et al. A survey of fever management in febrile intensive care patients without neurological injury. Crit Care 15, P18 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/cc10387

Download citation

Keywords

  • Temperature Threshold
  • Neurological Injury
  • Physical Intervention
  • Intensive Care Patient
  • Sterile Inflammation

Critical Care

ISSN: 1364-8535