Warm Sponging Versus Tepid Sponging in Febrile Children: Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial of efficacy
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Objective: To compare the efficacy of Warm Sponging with Tepid Sponging among children aged 6 months to 5 years with fever (>100°F to <104°F) and receiving syrup Paracetamol 15mg/kg body weight in reducing body temperature by at least 20F or to normal temperature (98.6°F) at 30 minutes of initiation of sponging.
Materials and Method: The design adopted for the study was Parallel Group Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial
The participants consisted of 268 Children aged 6 months to 5 years of age and axillary temperature 100°F to 104°F were recruited from out patient department of a primary care setting and were screened by review of medical history. Exclusion criteria were history of seizures, intake of antipyretics within 6 hrs, contraindications to paracetamol, dehydration and disorders of central nervous system. There were two arms for the study i.e the Experimental group received Warm Sponging & paracetamol (n=134) and Control group; Tepid sponging & paracetamol, (n=134). The Outcome measure was reduction of body temperature by at least 2°F or attaining normal temperature (98.6° F).
Results: There was a statistically significant difference in proportion of target temperature reduction between Warm sponging and Tepid sponging groups . Chi square 21.145 at 1d(f) , P value 0.00001: The achievement of target temperature in Warm sponging group was 49.25% and 22.39% in Tepid sponging group, the difference in proportion between group is 26.86% ( 95% CI of 15.84% - 37.88%).
Conclusion: The study concluded that warm sponging along with oral paracetamol, was found to be more effective than tepid sponging along with oral paracetamol in reducing temperature in febrile children.
Keywords
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