All issues > Volume 37(6); 1994

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1994;37(6):746-751. Published online June 15, 1994.

Evaluation of Fever Reducing Methods in Children

Soo Young SY Lim¹, Hwa Jeong HJ Lee¹, Seung Hee SH Mok¹, Heui Jeong HJ Kwon¹, In Sil IS Lee¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, National Police Hospital, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

The efficacy of acetaminophen, sponging plus acetaminophen, and sponging alone as method of lowering body temperature was compared in 108 children aged 8 weeks to 5 years who presented with an axillary temperature of 38.5C or greater during the period from January 1993 to April 1993. The following results were obtained. 1) The male to female ratio was 2.5:1 and clinical diagnosis in the order of frequency were upper respiratory infection, gastroenteritis, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, cellulitis, chickenpox and hand-foot-mouth disease. 2) At thirty minutes after treatment, there was no significant difference on the decrement of temperature among the three groups 3) At sixty minutes, the temperature decrement was the greatest in the group of sponging plus acetaminophen and that was statistically significant (p<0.01) But there was no significant difference between the group of acetaminophen and that of sponging.

Keywords :Fever, Acetaminophen, Sponging