Prescription Pattern of Antipyretics for Infection Induced Fever in Pediatric Ward of Nedjo General Hospital, Nedjo Town, West Ethiopia

Background Antipyretic therapy administration to patients who develop fever due to infection is controversial and its impact on clinical outcomes has yielded mixed results. We aimed to assess the prescription pattern and rational use of antipyretics for infection induced fever among hospitalized pediatric patients. Materials and Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study design was conducted to describe the use of antipyretics in hospitalized fever develop infectious patients from 2015 to 2016. A total of 290 patients were included in the study using random sampling method. Data was collected from the patients’ cards from February to March, 2016 at Nedjo general hospital, Ethiopia. Results Of the 290 patients, 164(56.6%) were males while 126 (43.4%) were females. The mean age of the patients was 3.41+2.65 years with mean temperature of 37.21C0. The average hospital stay of patients was 4.65+1.82 days and a total of 201 antipyretics were prescribed. Among the patients’ cases, pneumonia accounts 96 (33.1%) of morbidity and 8 (42.1% of all mortality while neonatal sepsis accounts 79(27.24%) of morbidity and 7(36.8%) of all cause of mortality. During the study period there were 19(6.6%) in hospital mortality was recorded.  The antipyretics ordered were Paracetamol, Diclofenac and Ibuprofen. From these, Paracetamol was the most frequent ordered drug, (96.5%) and 98.5% of the antipyretics were ordered as required basis (PRN). Conclusion The pattern of antipyretic prescription during the study depends on the diagnosis of the infection identified. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the effect of antipyretics on clinically relevant outcomes in fever developed hospitalized infectious patients.