Paracetamol and fever management
Abstract
Paracetamol is one of the most commonly used legal drugs in the western world. Its availability is good, cost is low, and its uses include 'over-the-counter' (OTC) distribution, primary care prescribed therapy, secondary care 'post-operative' application and emergency treatment. Stated benefits of paracetamol include: the drug's analgesic effects, preference to aspirin in avoidance of Reye's syndrome, good patient tolerance, and iatrogenic complications are infrequent and minor. Stated cautions include hepatotoxic effect following minor doses and short duration use and users may incur compromised immune integrity. This paper is concerned with paracetamol's role in fever management. Public concern regarding, in particular, childhood fever and febrile convulsions is largely unwarranted. Despite paracetamol's reputation as a popular fever-reducing agent the drug is poorly effective in the control of febrility and febrile convulsions showing no important advantage compared with placebo. Paracetamol is probably grossly over-prescribed for fever management and its value more perceived than real. Greater efforts are needed to inform patients of the natural benefits of the biological strategy of fever and of the highly limited and in some cases contraindicated use of paracetamol in fever management.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Effect of dexamethasone as an analgesic adjuvant to multimodal pain treatment after total knee arthroplasty: randomised clinical trial
- Effect of a Postoperative Multimodal Opioid-Sparing Protocol vs Standard Opioid Prescribing on Postoperative Opioid Consumption After Knee or Shoulder Arthroscopy: A Randomized Clinical Trial
- Comparison of the Post-Caesarean Analgesic Effect of Adding Dexmedetomidine to Paracetamol and Ketorolac: A Randomized Clinical Trial
- A triple-blind randomized clinical trial of different associations between dexamethasone and non-steroids anti-inflammatories for preemptive action in third molar extractions
- An open label randomized clinical trial of Indomethacin for mild and moderate hospitalised Covid-19 patients
- Oral paracetamol and/or ibuprofen for treating pain after soft tissue injuries: Single centre double-blind, randomised controlled clinical trial
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.