title: A multicentre audit of temperature patterns after traumatic brain injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Elevation of body temperature is common after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Suppressing fever may be beneficial.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In clinical practice, temperature is maintained _37°C.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective, multicentre, cohort study of patients with an intensive care unit admission diagnosis of TBI over a 6-month period.
  
  
  METHODS
  The mean proportion of time per day that temperature _37°C or _38°C (to correct for unequal measurements between patients, imputation was used between consecutive temperature measurements and a linear relationship was assumed); and the proportion of patients on each day with a peak temperature _37°C.
  
  
  RESULTS
  217 patients with TBI were admitted to eight ICUs. The mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score of the cohort was 15.7 (SD, 7.7) and intracranial pressure monitoring was done in 29% of patients. The mean proportion of time on each day that temperature was _37°C varied between 56% (SE, 2.6%) on Day 1 and 89% (SE, 3.7%) on Day 14. The mean proportion of time per day that temperature was > 38°C was between a minimum of 11% (SE, 1.5%) on Day 1 and a maximum of 25% (SE, 4.4%) Day 11. The proportion of patients for whom daily peak temperature was > 37°C ranged between a minimum of 73.2% (153/209) on Day 1 and a maximum of 97.4% (26/33) on Day 13.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients with TBI, a substantial proportion of time is spent with a temperature _37°C. Prospective validation of these data are required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care Medicine, St George Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia. m.saxena@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Manoj K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Colman
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.affiliation: Wellington Hospital, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Jayanthi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mysore
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Billot
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Ashleigh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Myburgh
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care Medicine, St George Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myburgh
mesh_terms: D018806:APACHE; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult