Hospital-acquired sinusitis is a common cause of fever of unknown origin in orotracheally intubated critically ill patients

Table 4 Final diagnosis for FUO at ICU discharge, with final results of all cultures known

Cause of fever	Sole cause	One of multiple causes^a
Central line infection	44	11
Upper respiratory tract infection/pneumonia	132	58
Sinusitis	57	48
Abdominal focus	8	16
Other^b	12	28
Unknown		46
Total	253	161

See also Fig. 1. ^aMost patients with more than one cause of fever had sinusitis and bronchitis/pneumonia; ^bother causes of fever included meningitis (not related to sinusitis), phlebitis and deep venous thrombosis.

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