Objectives: Temperature is universally measured in the hospitalized patient, but the literature on hospital-acquired fever has not been systematically reviewed. This systematic review is intended to provide clinicians with an overview of the incidence, etiology, and outcome of hospital-acquired fever.
Data sources: We searched MEDLINE (1970 to 2005), EMBASE (1988 to 2004), and Web of Knowledge. References of all included articles were reviewed. Articles that focused on children, fever in the developing world, classic fever of unknown origin, or specialized patient populations were excluded.
Review methods: Articles were reviewed independently by 2 authors before inclusion; a third author acted as arbiter.
Results: Of over 1,000 studies reviewed, 7 met the criteria for inclusion. The incidence of hospital-acquired fever ranged from 2% to 17%. The etiology of fever was infection in 37% to 74%. Rates of antibiotic use for patients with a noninfectious cause of fever ranged from 29% to 55% for a mean duration of 6.6 to 9.6 days. Studies varied widely in their methodology and the patient population studied.
Conclusions: Limited information is available to guide an evidence-based approach to hospital-acquired fever. We propose criteria to help standardize future studies of this important clinical situation.