To study the profile of fever of unknown origin(FUO) in the elderly patients (>60 years) admitted to a tertiary care hospital in South India

Dr Wilson Benny Paul; Dr Pranita Roy; Dr K Prasad Mathews; Dr Vivek Aggarwal; Dr Sandeep Kumar

Volume : VII, Issue : II, February - 2017

To study the profile of fever of unknown origin(FUO) in the elderly patients (>60 years) admitted to a tertiary care hospital in South India

Dr Wilson Benny Paul, Dr Pranita Roy, Dr K Prasad Mathews, Dr Vivek Aggarwal, Dr Sandeep Kumar

Abstract :

Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is a common presentation for variety of disorders in the geriatric age group. Most of these patients can be accurately diagnosed with a systematic approach and assessment. Causes of FUO vary with the demography and the economic status of the country. This is retrospective study to analyse the profile of all the geriatric patients with FUO (fever of more than 3 weeks), who were admitted to a tertiary care hospital in south India. In our study Infectious diseases (54%) was the most common cause of FUO with tuberculosis (43%) being the commonest infection followed by urinary tract infection (UTI). Malignancies constituted the second most common cause of FUO with 20.9% of the cases. Connective tissue disorders were responsible in 8.95% of patients. Diagnosis could not be established in 8.95% of the patients and four patients did not have any documented fever after admission to the ward. CRP was raised in 91% of the patients and ESR was raised in 73% of the patients with FUO. In our study the diagnosis could be established in more than 90% of the geriatric patients presenting with FUO.