Conocimiento y actuación de los padres sobre la fiebre

objective: to assess parental knowledge and attitudes about fever and the influence of social and family aspects. methods: questionnaires distributed to parents of children 1-5 years old in two health districts. for qualitative variables association tests with x2 test were applied, and mean differences by student's t-distribution or analysis of variance (anova) were used for quantitative variables. it was considered statistically significant the value of p < 0.05. results: there were 288 questionnaires analyzed. fifty percent of respondents have 2 children, and 64.5% work. older age and higher education levels were found in urban areas (p < 0.001). fever was considered to be a bad thing by 50.3%, less so those with higher mean age (p < 0.05). electronic thermometers was used in 67.7%, and 86.2% took armpit temperature considering 37.7oc as fever. when faced with fever, 58.3% of parents first use antipyretics. physical measures are used in the first term by 98.2% and 49.3% think these measures lower the fever; they are used less by those parents who work (p < 0.05). parents with higher education levels remove the clothing and give liquids more than those with primary education (p = 0.035). most commonly used antipyretics are acetaminophen and ibuprofen; 64.6% perceived differences in efficiency; 65.4% think that ibuprofen is more effective than acetaminophen. most parents use the dosage prescribed by the pediatrician (85.4%), and 21.5% use the dosage specified in the leaflet, especially those with higher education levels, compared to parents with primary education (p < 0.05). they sometimes alternate antipyretics (67.4%), always following the advice of their pediatrician. conclusions: there is an overall good knowledge and attitudes about fever.