Abstract
Objective:Our study aimed at identifying the characteristics and etiology of various causes of acute undifferentiated fever in patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital.Methods:This was a retrospective study conducted at the department of emergency medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital from January to June 2016. Adult patients presenting to Emergency department with acute undifferentiated fever were enrolled. Descriptive statistics were calculated in terms of mean±SD for continuous variables like age of the patients and duration of fever, whereas frequency and percentage were computed for categorical variables like gender and causes of fever.Results:A total of one hundred and fifty five patients were included. Out of these 97 (62.6%) were males and 58 (37.4%) were females. Most patients (25.2%, n= 39) were diagnosed as malaria followed closely by dengue fever (n=33, 21.3%) and then enteric fever (n= 10, 6.5%). while 41.9% (n=65) were diagnosed as suspected viral fever based on clinical judgment and inconclusive laboratory results.Conclusion:Malaria was found to be the most common confirmed cause of acute undifferentiated fever followed by dengue and enteric fever. The provision of accurate epidemiological data will enable resources to be directed towards key areas and will be of practical importance to clinicians.
Highlights
Infectious diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and death in developing countries like Pakistan
Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics were calculated in terms of mean±SD of age of the patients and duration of fever respectively, whereas frequency and percentage was computed for gender and causes of fever like malaria, typhoid, urinary tract infections, dengue fever etc
Our study clearly revealed that predominant cause of acute undifferentiated fever in our region was malaria, followed by dengue and typhoid
Summary
Infectious diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and death in developing countries like Pakistan. According to World Health Organization data Pakistan is facing challenges regarding the health system. The country has the 5th highest tuberculosis burden in the world, and focal geographical area of malaria endemicity. Around 25-30% of the Emergency Departments revisits are related to infections.[1] Fever is one of the most common presenting complaints at emergency departments (EDs). It can attribute to a wide range of clinical disease from self-limiting viral illness to life threatening conditions like sepsis which results in mortality and morbidity leading admission to intensive care unit or prolonged hospital stay
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