SynthesisEuropean journal of pediatrics2018
Hyperpyrexia and high fever as a predictor for serious bacterial infection (SBI) in children-a systematic review.
Synthesis in European journal of pediatrics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical Practice Guideline: The Outpatient Management of Fever in Children and Adolescents.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2026Guideline
- Shivering has little diagnostic value in diagnosing serious bacterial infection in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Antibiotic overuse in children with viral infections: lessons from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Factors associated with severe bacterial infection in infants between 91- and 120-days old admitted to the pediatric emergency department.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Development and validation of a nomogram for predicting antibiotic treatment duration in patients with liver abscess complicated by diabetes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Risk of serious bacterial infections in pediatric patients with hyperpyrexia.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2024Article
- Discursive Analysis of Pediatrician's Therapeutic Approach towards Childhood Fever and Its Contextual Differences: An Ethnomethodological Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- La prise en charge des nourrissons de 90 jours ou moins, fiévreux mais dans un bon état général.Paediatrics & child health · 2024Review
- Management of well-appearing febrile young infants aged ≤90 days.Paediatrics & child health · 2024Review
- Mothers' Knowledge of Infants' Fever Management: A National Prospective Study.Maternal and child health journal · 2023Article
- SBI is uncommon in the absence of paediatricians' gut feeling and abnormal respiratory pattern.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2022Article
- Pyrexia in a young infant - is height of fever associated with serious bacterial infection?BMC pediatrics · 2022Article
- Fever of unknown origin (FUO) in children: a single-centre experience from Beijing, China.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Blood biomarkers in early bacterial infection and sepsis diagnostics in feverish young children.International journal of medical sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It is not clear if children with high fever are at increased risk for serious bacterial infection (SBI). Our aim was to systematically review if children suffering from high fever are at high risk for SBI. Our data sources were Embase, Medline, and Pubmed; from their inception until the last week of March 2017. The study selection were of cohort and case control studies comparing the incidence of SBI in children with hyperpyrexia with children with fever of 41 °C or less, and children with a temperature higher than 40 °C, with children with fever of 40 °C or less. Two reviewers independently pooled studies for detailed review using a structured data-collection form. We calculated the odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for SBI, assuming a random-effects model. A sub-group analysis was conducted. In our results, 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. Two studies showed that children with hyperpyrexia are at higher risk for SBI (OR 1.96 95% CI 1.3-1.97). An increased risk for SBI in children with high fever (OR 3.21 95% CI 1.67; 6.22). SBI in infants with temperature over 40 °C was higher compared to infants with lower degree of fever (OR 6.3 95% CI 4.44; 8.95). On older children, the risk for SBI was only slightly higher in children with fever above 40 °C. The limitation of the study is the small amount of studies and that the heterogeneity of the studies was very high.
conclusionYoung infants with temperature higher than 400 °C are at increased risk for SBI. Risk of SBI in older children with temperature > 400C is minimal. What is known: • An association between high fever and increased risk for SBI was reported in young infants. • Based on only two studies from the 1970s and 1980s, hyperpyrexia is associated with increased risk for SBI. What is new: • Infants under the age of 3 months with fever > 40 °C were found to have increased risk for SBI. • Risk of SBI in older children with temperature > 40 °C is minimal.
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