title: Fever of unknown origin: 98 cases from Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is mainly secondary to infectious, neoplastic or inflammatory diseases. To increase the body of knowledge on this diagnosis in the region, we collected information on all patients admitted to our institution with FUO in a 13-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective chart review of all immunocompetent males and females aged 13 years and older admitted between January 1995 and June 2008 who fulfilled the criteria for FUO. Data collection included demographics, laboratory investigations, imaging studies, procedures and discharge diagnoses. For true FUO, we recorded the duration of follow-up and the outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 98 patients who met the criteria included 44 males and 54 females with a mean (SD) age of 41.3 (18.5) years and range of 14 to 85 years. The most frequent diagnostic etiology was infectious in 32 (32.7%). Seventeen (17.3%) patients were undiagnosed or had true FUO. Of 9 patients followed up, 8 recovered and 1 expired. The mean duration of follow-up was 20.6 months (range, 0-168 months).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infectious diseases, especially TB, continue to be the leading etiology of FUO in our area. Our data did not identify any predictor of certain FUO diagnoses except for older age and neoplastic etiology. True FUO patients generally did well. Reporting local experience is important in guiding clinicians about the epidemiologic patterns of FUO in their regions.
authors.affiliation: Section of Internal Medicine, King Faisal Specialists Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. mahmoud_moawad@vmed.com
authors.forename: Mahmoud A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Moawad
authors.forename: Habib
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bassil
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elsherif
authors.forename: Abeer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Moustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elnaggar
authors.forename: Jameela
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Edathodu
authors.forename: Abdulaziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alharthi
authors.forename: Muneerah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albugami
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabry
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoukri
authors.forename: Ibtisam
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bakhsh
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Laudon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult