Managing Fever in Children: A National Survey of Parents' Knowledge and Practices in France

Introduction

Identifying targets to improve parental practices for managing fever in children is the first step to reducing the overloaded healthcare system related to this common symptom. We aimed to study parents'' knowledge and practices and their determinants in managing fever symptoms in children in France as compared with current recommendations.

Methods

We conducted an observational national study between 2007 and 2008 of French general practitioners, primary care pediatricians and pharmacists. These healthcare professionals (HPs) were asked to include 5 consecutive patients from 1 month to 12 years old with fever for up to 48 hr who were accompanied by a family member. Parents completed a questionnaire about their knowledge of fever in children and their attitudes about the current fever episode. We used a multilevel logistic regression model to assess the joint effects of patient- and HP-level variables.

Results

In all, 1,534 HPs (participation rate 13%) included 6,596 children. Parental concordance with current recommendations for temperature measurement methods, the threshold for defining fever, and physical (oral hydration, undressing, room temperature) and drug treatment was 89%, 61%, 15%, and 23%, respectively. Multivariate multi-level analyses revealed a significant HP effect. In general, high concordance with recommendations was associated with high educational level of parents and the HP consulted being a pediatrician.

Conclusions

In France, parents'' knowledge and practices related to managing fever symptoms in children frequently differ from recommendations. Targeted health education interventions are needed to effectively manage fever symptoms in children.