Fever observational study v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An observational study of the epidemiology of fever due to infection in critically ill children following an unplanned admission to a paediatric intensive care unit.
IRAS ID
209929
Contact name
Mark J Peters
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
A fever (high temperature) is a normal response by the body to infection. When a very sick child has a fever, the usual reaction from clinicians (doctors/nurses) is to cool down the child using drugs or physical methods such as a cooling mat. The temperature at which clinicians usually start these treatments is about 37.5°C.
There is strong evidence, however, that fever is an important bodily response that may help a child to recover from infection. In 2013, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated guidance to recommend that drugs should not be used only for the purpose of reducing a child’s temperature. Most of the evidence for this recommendation came from research in non-critically ill children, therefore, it is unknown whether this recommendation should be applied to very sick children.
Prior to conducting a large, expensive, clinical trial to evaluate whether a higher temperature threshold to start treatments to cool down a child would be beneficial, we are conducting three studies to address the question "can this trial be done?".
The FEVER Observational Study is one of these studies, with the aim of identifying: current temperature threshold(s) for fever management, how many children would need to take part in a full trial, and which are the best outcomes to use. Data will be collected on current management and outcomes of children admitted to 20 paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) over 6 months. As the study does not involve an intervention, participants will receive usual care. In addition to data already collected on the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet - the national clinical audit for paediatric intensive care units), we will collect some minimal information on each child's temperature and cooling interventions.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0026
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jan 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion