Non-infectious Fever After Acute Spinal Cord Injury in the Intensive Care Unit

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the frequency, etiology, risk factors and clinical outcomes in acute traumatic SCI patients who develop fever and to evaluate the relationship between fever and mortality.

Retrospective data were collected between January 2007 and August 2016 from patients diagnosed with persistent fever from SCI cases observed in the ICU.

Among 5370 intensive care patients, 435 SCI patients were evaluated for the presence of fever. A total of 52 patients meeting the criteria were evaluated.

Fever characteristics were evaluated by dividing the patients into two groups: infectious (group-1) and non-infectious (group-2) fever. Demographic and clinical data, ICU and hospital stay, and mortality were evaluated.

In the patients with noninfectious fever, mortality was significantly higher compared to the group with infectious fever (P < 0.001). Of 52 acute SCI cases, 25 (48.1%) had neurogenic fever that did not respond to treatment in intensive care follow-up, and 22 (88%) of these patients died. Maximal fever was 39.10 ± 0.64 °C in Group-1 and 40.22 ± 1.10 ° C in Group-2 (P = 0.001). There was a significant difference in the duration of ICU stay and hospital stay between the two groups (P = 0.005, P = 0.001, respectively), while there was no difference in the duration of mechanical ventilation between the groups (P = 0.544).

This study demonstrates that patients diagnosed with neurogenic fever following SCI had higher average body temperature and higher rates of mortality compared to patients diagnosed with infectious fever.