A systematic approach for studying the signs and symptoms of fever in adult patients: the fever assessment tool (FAST)

Table 4 Odds ratio of observing eight statistically significant signs and symptoms of fever by subset

Signs and symptoms	β (SE)	Odds ratio (95% Confidence Interval)	p value
4. Warm
Fever Now	1.57 (0.52)	4.81 (1.73-13.33)	0.0025
Fever Not Now	0.24 (0.53)	1.27 (0.450-3.63)	0.6491
5. Sweating
Fever Now	1.88 (0.56)	6.55 (2.20-19.69)	0.0007
Fever Not Now	1.28 (0.55)	3.60 (1.22-10.49)	0.0198
9. Thirsty
Fever Now	1.14 (0.48)	3.13 (1.22-8.00)	0.0166
Fever Not Now	0.51 (0.40)	1.67 (0.76-3.63)	0.1990
10. General body aches
Fever Now	2.32 (0.53)	10.18 (3.53-29.37)	<.0001
Fever Not Now	1.62 (0.38)	5.05 (2.41-10.70)	<.0001
11. Weak/lacking energy
Fever Now	1.71 (0.60)	5.53 (1.70 -18.17)	0.0045
Fever Not Now	1.04 (0.46)	2.83 (1.15-7.03)	0.0238
12. Tired/run down
Fever Now	1.48 (0.45)	4.39 (1.80-10.59)	0.0010
Fever Not Now	1.05 (0.39)	2.86 (1.34-6.11)	0.0067
13. Sleepy
Fever Now	1.50 (0.45)	4.48 (1.84-11.02)	0.0009
Fever Not Now	0.75 (0.36)	2.12 (1.05-4.26)	0.0346
17. Difficulty Breathing
Fever Now	2.95 (0.76)	19.11 (4.26-46.99)	0.0001
Fever Not Now	2.01 (0.76)	7.46 (1.70-32.79)	0.0079

Odds ratio and GEE (β) estimate with accompanying standard error (SE) for eight statistically significant symptoms of fever reported for either Fever Now and/or Fever Not Now subsets, where the Fever Never subset represents the default comparison group (values set at zero). The Fever Never subset included all time points in patients who never experienced fever. The Fever Now are those time points when a fever was recorded. Patients who had at least one time point of fever, but did not possess fever at the time point were categorized as the Fever Not Now subset

ISSN: 1477-7525