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Fever control interventions versus placebo, sham or no intervention in adults : a protocol for a systematic review with meta-analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis

Sethi, Naqash ; Naqash, Arushma Imran ; Nielsen, Niklas LU and Jakobsen, Janus Christian (2019) In BMJ Open 9(11).
Abstract

Introduction Fever is an integral part of the inflammatory response and has therefore likely a physiological role in fighting infections. Nevertheless, whether fever in itself is beneficial or harmful in adults is unknown. This protocol for a systematic review aims at identifying the beneficial and harmful effects of fever control interventions in adults. Methods and analysis This protocol for a systematic review was conducted following the recommendations of Cochrane, GRADE and the eight-step assessment suggested by Jakobsen and colleagues for better validation of meta-analytical results in systematic reviews. We plan to include all relevant randomised clinical trials comparing any fever control intervention with placebo, sham or no... (More)

Introduction Fever is an integral part of the inflammatory response and has therefore likely a physiological role in fighting infections. Nevertheless, whether fever in itself is beneficial or harmful in adults is unknown. This protocol for a systematic review aims at identifying the beneficial and harmful effects of fever control interventions in adults. Methods and analysis This protocol for a systematic review was conducted following the recommendations of Cochrane, GRADE and the eight-step assessment suggested by Jakobsen and colleagues for better validation of meta-analytical results in systematic reviews. We plan to include all relevant randomised clinical trials comparing any fever control intervention with placebo, sham or no intervention in adults. We plan to search CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, LILACS, BIOSIS, CINAHL, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection to identify relevant trials. Any eligible trial will be assessed and classified as either at high risk of bias or low risk of bias, and our primary conclusions will be based on trials at low risk of bias. We will perform our meta-analyses of the extracted data using Review Manager 5.3 and Trial Sequential Analysis. For all our outcomes, we will create a 'Summary of Findings' table based on GRADE assessments of the certainty of the evidence. Ethics and dissemination No formal approval or review of ethics is required for this systematic review as individual patient data will not be included. This systematic review has the potential to highlight (1) whether one should believe fever to be beneficial, harmful or neither in adults; (2) the existing knowledge gaps on this topic; and (3) whether the recommendations from guidelines and daily clinical practice are correct. These results will be disseminated through publication in a leading peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO registration number CRD42019134006.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
fever, fever control, meta-analysis, systematic review
in
BMJ Open
volume
9
issue
11
article number
032389
publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85074544557
  • pmid:31685514
ISSN
2044-6055
DOI
10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032389
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b016b55c-b5a3-47c4-9195-7aac65ad7adb
date added to LUP
2019-11-18 14:18:26
date last changed
2024-03-04 08:18:30
@article{b016b55c-b5a3-47c4-9195-7aac65ad7adb,
  abstract     = {{<p>Introduction Fever is an integral part of the inflammatory response and has therefore likely a physiological role in fighting infections. Nevertheless, whether fever in itself is beneficial or harmful in adults is unknown. This protocol for a systematic review aims at identifying the beneficial and harmful effects of fever control interventions in adults. Methods and analysis This protocol for a systematic review was conducted following the recommendations of Cochrane, GRADE and the eight-step assessment suggested by Jakobsen and colleagues for better validation of meta-analytical results in systematic reviews. We plan to include all relevant randomised clinical trials comparing any fever control intervention with placebo, sham or no intervention in adults. We plan to search CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, LILACS, BIOSIS, CINAHL, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection to identify relevant trials. Any eligible trial will be assessed and classified as either at high risk of bias or low risk of bias, and our primary conclusions will be based on trials at low risk of bias. We will perform our meta-analyses of the extracted data using Review Manager 5.3 and Trial Sequential Analysis. For all our outcomes, we will create a 'Summary of Findings' table based on GRADE assessments of the certainty of the evidence. Ethics and dissemination No formal approval or review of ethics is required for this systematic review as individual patient data will not be included. This systematic review has the potential to highlight (1) whether one should believe fever to be beneficial, harmful or neither in adults; (2) the existing knowledge gaps on this topic; and (3) whether the recommendations from guidelines and daily clinical practice are correct. These results will be disseminated through publication in a leading peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO registration number CRD42019134006.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sethi, Naqash and Naqash, Arushma Imran and Nielsen, Niklas and Jakobsen, Janus Christian}},
  issn         = {{2044-6055}},
  keywords     = {{fever; fever control; meta-analysis; systematic review}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{BMJ Open}},
  title        = {{Fever control interventions versus placebo, sham or no intervention in adults : a protocol for a systematic review with meta-analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032389}},
  doi          = {{10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032389}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}