Fever and agitation in elderly ICU patients: a descriptive study

To investigate the association between fever and agitation in elderly, critically ill patients.

Medical-surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Greek, tertiary care hospital.

Descriptive, quantitative study conducted from October 2005 to September 2006. Patient temperature was measured by a tympanic membrane or an axillary thermometer. Agitation-Sedation scale was used for evaluating agitation. Variables found to contribute to agitation in previous studies were also collected.

One hundred sixty-one patients > or =65 years, who were consecutively admitted to the ICU, were enrolled. Fever was found to be an independent predictor of agitation (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.02-3.49). High fever (>39.3 degrees C), was associated with a higher possibility for patients to manifest severe agitation (p=0.046).

Considering the significant adverse consequences of agitation, antipyretic therapy may be recommended for the elderly ICU population, especially when fever is combined with other factors predisposing to agitation or when fever becomes high.