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Clinical approach to fever of unknown origin in children

Clinical approach to fever of unknown origin in children

Authors :
Ya-Li Chien
Fang-Liang Huang
Chung-Ming Huang
Po-Yen Chen
Source :
Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection, Vol 50, Iss 6, Pp 893-898 (2017)
Publication Year :
2017
Publisher :
Elsevier, 2017.

Abstract

Background/purpose: Fever of unknown origin (FUO) can be caused by many clinical conditions and remains a diagnostic challenge in clinical practice. The etiology of FUO varies markedly among different age groups, geographic areas, and seasons. A four-stage investigative protocol for FUO is widely applied in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of this four-stage protocol for identifying the etiology of FUO in children. Methods: We enrolled children younger than 18 years of age who were admitted to the Taichung Veterans General Hospital during the period from January 2006 to December 2014 with FUO persisting for more than 3 weeks. The four-stage FUO investigative guideline was used to evaluate the etiology of fever in all patients enrolled in the study. Results: The etiology of FUO was identified in 79 (84.9%) of the 93 patients enrolled in the study. The most common cause of FUO was infectious disease (37.6%), followed by malignancy (17.2%), miscellaneous disease (16.1%), and collagen vascular disease (14.0%). With respect to the four-stage survey of FUO, 36 of the 79 patients (45.6%) were identified in Stage 3, 28 patients (35.4%) in Stage 2, 13 patients (16.5%) in Stage 4, and only two patients (2.5%) in Stage 1. Conclusion: A well-designed systemic review of the epidemiological information, medical history, physical examination, laboratory analysis, and adequate invasive procedures provide adequate data to identify the most common causes of FUO in children. Keywords: children, fever of unknown origin

Subjects

Subjects :
Microbiology
QR1-502

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
16841182
Volume :
50
Issue :
6
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.fe6afea93b4dba8b503dc823f40875
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmii.2015.08.007