TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding discomfort in order to appropriately treat fever
AU - Doria, Mattia
AU - Careddu, Domenico
AU - Ceschin, Flavia
AU - Libranti, Maria
AU - Pierattelli, Monica
AU - Perelli, Valentina
AU - Laterza, Claudia
AU - Chieti, Annarita
AU - Chiappini, Elena
PY - 2019/11/2
Y1 - 2019/11/2
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Children
KW - Discomfort
KW - Fever
KW - Paracetamol
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075113841&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph16224487
DO - 10.3390/ijerph16224487
M3 - Article
C2 - 31739494
AN - SCOPUS:85075113841
VL - 16
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
SN - 1661-7827
IS - 22
M1 - 4487
ER -