Health technology assessment : HTA
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Health Technol Assess · Feb 2019
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDifferent temperature thresholds for antipyretic intervention in critically ill children with fever due to infection: the FEVER feasibility RCT.
Fever accelerates host immune system control of pathogens but at a high metabolic cost. The optimal approach to fever management and the optimal temperature thresholds used for treatment in critically ill children are unknown. ⋯ The results identified barriers to delivering the definitive FEVER RCT, including acceptability of the permissive temperature threshold. The findings also provided insight into how these barriers may be overcome, such as by limiting the patient inclusion criteria to invasive ventilation only and by improved site training. A definitive FEVER RCT using a modified protocol should be conducted, but further work is required to agree important outcome measures for clinical trials among critically ill children.