Department of Sciences for Woman and Child's Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
BMC Pediatr. 2012 Jul 13;12:97. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-12-97.
Guidelines for the management of fever in children have been recently published, however "fever phobia" is still spreading. To provide information which may sustain educational interventions tailored to our population we investigated the parental and medical knowledge and management of fever in preschool children.
A questionnaire was administered to a convenient sample of Italian parents and paediatricians. The questionnaire elicited information about definition and cause of fever, concerns about fever, method of temperature measurement, and treatment modalities.
Overall, 388 parents and 480 paediatricians were interviewed. All the parents believed that fever could cause at least one harmful effect and 89.9% (n = 349) believed that, if left untreated, it can cause brain damage or seizures. Parents used multiple resources to obtain information about fever but 67.8% (n = 264) considered paediatricians as their primary resource. Several wrong behaviours were found in the same proportions among parents and paediatricians: 78.5% of paediatricians (n = 377) and 77.8% of parents (n = 302) used physical method to reduce fever (P = 0.867); 27.0% of paediatricians (n = 103) and 21.4% (n = 83) of parents declared to alternate ibuprofen and acetaminophen (P = 0.953). Differently, 73.1% (n = 351) of paediatricians preferred oral to rectal administration of antipyretics compared to 48.7% (n = 190) of parents (P < 0.0001). Worrisomely, 1.4% of paediatricians and 1.2% of parents declared to use acetylsalicylic acid or steroids as second-choice antipyretics (P = 0.937) and 6.7% (n = 26) of parents declared to use table- or teaspoons for determining the dose of drug.
Paediatricians' attitudes greatly influence the parental behaviours and beliefs. Implementation of educational programs regarding the management of the febrile child are needed in our setting.
最近发布了儿童发热管理指南，但“发热恐惧症”仍在蔓延。为了提供可能支持针对我们人群的教育干预的信息，我们调查了学龄前儿童父母和医生对发热的知识和管理。
我们向意大利父母和儿科医生的方便样本发放了问卷。问卷询问了发热的定义和原因、对发热的担忧、体温测量方法和治疗方式。
总共访谈了 388 名父母和 480 名儿科医生。所有父母都认为发热至少会造成一种有害影响，89.9%（n=349）的父母认为，如果不治疗，发热会导致脑损伤或癫痫发作。父母使用多种资源获取发热相关信息，但 67.8%（n=264）的父母将儿科医生视为其主要信息来源。父母和儿科医生的错误行为比例相同：78.5%（n=377）的儿科医生和 77.8%（n=302）的父母使用物理方法降温（P=0.867）；27.0%（n=103）的儿科医生和 21.4%（n=83）的父母表示会交替使用布洛芬和对乙酰氨基酚（P=0.953）。不同的是，73.1%（n=351）的儿科医生更喜欢口服而非直肠使用解热药，而 48.7%（n=190）的父母更喜欢口服（P<0.0001）。令人担忧的是，1.4%的儿科医生和 1.2%的父母表示会使用乙酰水杨酸或类固醇作为二线解热药（P=0.937），6.7%（n=26）的父母表示会使用汤匙或茶匙来确定药物剂量。
儿科医生的态度极大地影响了父母的行为和信念。在我们的环境中，需要实施有关管理发热儿童的教育计划。
