Fever in the intensive care unit of king hussein medical center

Abstract EN

Objective: To determine the main causes of fever in the intensive care unit at King Hussein Medical Center.

Methods: Patients admitted to the intensive care unit at King Hussein Medical Center between the periods from May 2007 to December 2007 without fever were monitored for the onset of fever above 38.3 degrees centigrade.

The cause of fever was determined clinically, through laboratory investigations and radiologically following the algorithm adopted from the Journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

The causes were analyzed to determine the main causes of fever in King Hussein Medical Center intensive care units.

Results: The most common cause of fever in our intensive care unit was ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) (42.1%) followed by catheter-related infection (17.1%).

Other causes included wound infection, intra abdominal collections, urinary tract infection, drug-induced fever, meningitis, aspiration, and central causes.

About 4% of the patients remained with an unknown cause of fever.

Conclusion: King Hussein Medical Center is one of the main referral centers for critical care patients in Jordan.

There is a large number of ventilator dependant patients with multiple lines, which contributes to the high incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia and catheter-related sepsis.

It is of vast importance to determine the cause of fever and tackle it properly.