Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24326145›Full record

Observational studyCritical care (London, England)2013

Diagnosis and management of temperature abnormality in ICUs: a EUROBACT investigators' survey.

Daniel J Niven, Kevin B Laupland, Alexis Tabah, Aurélien Vesin, Jordi Rello, Despoina Koulenti, George Dimopoulos, Jan de Waele, Jean-Francois Timsit, EUROBACT Investigators

Open access · goldAbstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in Critical care (London, England), 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.3field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. The poikilothermic hypothesis of sepsis.Critical care (London, England) · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Sepsis in the absence of fever: Determining the criteria for and feasibility of future therapeutic temperature management trials.Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine · 2025
    Article
  6. Fever in Sepsis Revisited: Is a Little Heat What We Need?Open forum infectious diseases · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Construction and evaluation of shortZhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences · 2024
    Article
  9. Ten tips on fever.Intensive care medicine · 2023
    Article
  10. Review
  11. Temperature control in sepsis.Frontiers in medicine · 2023
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Should we treat pyrexia? And how do we do it?Critical care (London, England) · 2016
    Review
  16. Review
  17. Pyrexia: aetiology in the ICU.Critical care (London, England) · 2016
    Review
  18. [Is control fever mandatory in severe infections?]Reanimation : journal de la Societe de reanimation de langue francaise · 2016
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Management of severe infections: A time to keep a cool head or a hot topic for clinical trials?The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2014
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 7 institutions in 6 countries.

Daniel J Niven
Kevin B Laupland
Alexis Tabah
Aurélien Vesin
Jordi Rello
Despoina Koulenti
George Dimopoulos
Jan de Waele
Jean-Francois Timsit
EUROBACT Investigators
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens · GRUniversité Grenoble Alpes · FRGhent University Hospital · BEHôpital Albert Michallon · FRRoyal Brisbane and Women's Hospital · AUUniversity of Calgary · CAVall d'Hebron Hospital Universitari · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionAlthough fever and hypothermia are common abnormal physical signs observed in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU), little data exist on their optimal management. The objective of this study was to describe contemporary practices and determinants of management of temperature abnormalities among patients admitted to ICUs.

methodsSite leaders of the multi-national EUROBACT study were surveyed regarding diagnosis and management of temperature abnormalities among patients admitted to their ICUs.

resultsOf the 162 ICUs originally included in EUROBACT, responses were received from 139 (86%) centers in 23 countries in Europe (117), South America (8), Asia (5), North America (4), Australia (3) and Africa (2). A total of 117 (84%) respondents reported use of a specific temperature threshold in their ICU to define fever. A total of 14 different discrete levels were reported with a median of 38.2°C (inter-quartile range, IQR, 38.0°C to 38.5°C). The use of thermometers was protocolized in 91 (65%) ICUs and a wide range of methods were reportedly used, with axillary, tympanic and urinary bladder sites as the most common as primary modalities. Only 31 (22%) of respondents indicated that there was a formal written protocol for temperature control among febrile patients in their ICUs. In most or all cases practice was to control temperature, to use acetaminophen, and to perform a full septic workup in febrile patients and that this was usually directed by physician order. While reported practice was to treat nearly all patients with neurological impairment and most patients with acute coronary syndromes and infections, severe sepsis and septic shock, this was not the case for most patients with liver failure and fever.

conclusionsA wide range of definitions and management practices were reported regarding temperature abnormalities in the critically ill. Documenting temperature abnormality management practices, including variability in clinical care, is important to inform planning of future studies designed to optimize infection and temperature management strategies in the critically ill.

Indexed as

AcetaminophenAnti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-SteroidalAntipyreticsBacteremiaClinical ProtocolsFeverHumansHypothermiaHypothermia, InducedIntensive Care UnitsThermometersAcetaminophenAnti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-SteroidalAntipyretics

Identifiers

PMID24326145
PMCPMC4057370
OpenAlexW1969038481

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.