Ability of mothers to subjectively assess the presence of fever in their children
L. Banco and D. Veltri
We assessed the ability of mothers to subjectively determine the presence
or absence of fever in their children when compared with simultaneous
temperature determination obtained by thermometer. Mothers who said their
children were febrile were correct 52.3% of the time; those who said their
children were afebrile were correct 93.9% of the time. The sensitivity was
73.9% of the specificity was 85.6%. Ninety percent of children aged 2 years
or younger with temperatures of 38.9 degrees C or higher were correctly
identified as febrile. Administration of antipyretics to both febrile and
afebrile children was greater among those whose temperature was determined
at home by thermometer than among those whose temperature was determined by
subjective criteria. We conclude that maternal subjective fever assessment
criteria are useful as a screening method to rule out the presence of fever
at all ages and that mothers can identify high fevers in most young
children without the use of a thermometer.
