Understanding Discomfort in Order to Appropriately Treat Fever

Mattia Doria, Domenico Careddu, Flavia Ceschin, Maria Libranti, Monica Pierattelli, Valentina Perelli, Claudia Laterza, Annarita Chieti and Elena Chiappini
Additional contact information
Mattia Doria: Family paediatrician, Italian Federation of Paediatric (FIMP), 00100 Roma, Italy
Domenico Careddu: Family paediatrician, Italian Federation of Paediatric (FIMP), 00100 Roma, Italy
Flavia Ceschin: Family paediatrician, Italian Federation of Paediatric (FIMP), 00100 Roma, Italy
Maria Libranti: Family paediatrician, Italian Federation of Paediatric (FIMP), 00100 Roma, Italy
Monica Pierattelli: Family paediatrician, Italian Federation of Paediatric (FIMP), 00100 Roma, Italy
Valentina Perelli: Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Istituto Stella Maris, Calambrone, 56128 Pisa, Italy
Claudia Laterza: Sanitanova S.r.l., 70100 Bari, Italy
Annarita Chieti: Sanitanova S.r.l., 70100 Bari, Italy
Elena Chiappini: Ospedale Pediatrico Universitario Meyer, Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute—Università degli Studi di Firenze, Strutture Organizzative Dipartimentali (SOD) Malattie Infettive, 50139 Firenze, Italy

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-9

Abstract: Although national and international guidelines on the management of childhood and adolescent fever are available, some inadequate practices persist, both from parents and healthcare professionals. The main goal of bringing children’s temperature back to normal can lead to the choice of inappropriate drugs or non-necessary combination/alternation of antipyretic treatments. This behavior has been described in the last 35 years with the concept of fever-phobia, caused also by the dissemination of unscientific information and social media. It is therefore increasingly important that pediatricians continue to provide adequate information to parents in order to assess the onset of signs of a possible condition of the child’s discomfort rather than focusing only on temperature. In fact, there is no clear and unambiguous definition of discomfort in literature. Clarifying the extent of the feverish child’s discomfort and the tools that could be used to evaluate it would therefore help recommend that antipyretic treatment is appropriate only if fever is associated with discomfort.

Keywords: discomfort; children; fever; paracetamol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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