Padmini Soujanya Balla1, Surender Kagithapu2, Pratap Gudi3, Sirikiran Thouti Reddy4, Geetha Sowmya Vetcha5, Umesh Babu Kurva6
BACKGROUND
Fever is one of the most common complaints encountered by paediatric
practitioners in the clinics and hospitals. Fever as a complaint alone, accounts for
25% of the complaints among others like cold, cough, vomiting etc. Most often it
is the first noticed sign by the parents especially, mothers. Very often parents don’t
consider fever as a sign of illness, but fever itself is considered as an illness. Most
of the mothers presume fever by tactile perception and seek medical consultation.
Fever is a complex physiologic response to disease mediated pyrogenic cytokines
and characterized by a rise in core temperature. In this study, we want to
determine if assessment of fever by touch of the mother correlates with measured
temperature simultaneously.
METHODS
This study was done in department of Paediatrics, MGM Hospital, Warangal in the
age group 6months and 12 years between October 2019 to April 2020. Axillary
temperature was measured simultaneously in all those children where mother
perceived fever by touch, admitted to the paediatric department MGMH hospital.
Temperature more than 99.4 F measured in the axillary area was considered as
fever.
RESULTS
Of the 199 mothers 74 i.e., (37.19 %) perceived fever correctly and 125 i.e.,
(62.81 %) perceived fever which was not recorded on measurement. when
educational status of the mother was considered ,graduate mothers could perceive
fever better when compared to illiterate mothers.
CONCLUSIONS
In the present study we found that fever perception by tactile sensation is inferior
to measured temperature. Parents often wrongly perceive normal temperature as
fever and rush to seek professional care. Even educated mothers were unable to
assess fever correctly by touch. The results of this study may thus be potentially
useful in reassuring parents with fever phobia. All mothers should be motivated
and encouraged for use of standardized thermometer to measure fever even at
home , thus reducing the burden of false fever in our OPD`S and hospitals.
