Fever of unknown origin: evaluation of 30 pediatric patients

Purpose: The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the etiology clinical and laboratory features of fever of unknown origin (FUO) diagnosed in 30 pediatric patients. Materials and methods: The clinical data including the etiology, diagnostic approaches and clinical characteristics were retrospectively analysed in 30 pediatric patients with FUO who presented to our clinic in one year period. Results: The median age of the patients was 63 (6-192) months. Among the patients, 12 were male (40%), while 18 were female (60%). The median duration of the fever was 22.5 (3-60) days during hospital admission. The most common physical findings were hepatomegaly and splenomegaly, which were observed in 53. 3 and 40 patients, respectively. The cause of the FUO was detected to be infection in 14 patients (46.6%), connective tissue-vascular diseases in 8 patients (26.7%), malignancies in 5 patients (16.7%), and miscellaneous diseases in 1 patient (3.3%). In two patients (6.6%) the etiology could not be identified. Leishmaniasis, tuberculosis and brucellosis were the most commonly identified infections, whereas juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and acute lymphoblastic leukemia were the most common non-infectious causes. Conclusion: The most common cause of FUO in our study was infection diseases. Connective-vascular tissue diseases and malignancies are also important causes of FUO. In our opinion, detailed patient history, carefully physical examination and close clinical follow-up may reduce the number of the invasive procedures and non-invasive tests