Podcast 800: Mortality in Fevers

<p><strong>Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">A recent study evaluated the association between the degree of fever and mortality rate in patients presenting to a set of Emergency Departments in Israel</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Febrile patients with a temperature</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">></span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">38.0 C were recorded and these patients were compared against local death records to determine the all-cause 30-day mortality rate</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">8.1% of patients evaluated in the ED were determined to be febrile</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">30-day mortality for all febrile patients was around 12%</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Patients with fever</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">40 C have a mortality rate approaching 24%</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Patients febrile to</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">40 C had increased mortality, ICU admissions, and AKIs compared to those with lesser degrees of fever</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Those with a body temperature of between 39.2-39.5 C had the lowest mortality rates which may indicate the protective role of fever and warrants further research</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marcusohn E, Gibory I, Miller A, Lipsky AM, Neuberger A, Epstein D. The association between the degree of fever as measured in the emergency department and clinical