2024, Volume 17, Issue 9, pp 830 – 839

Long-term health effects of antipyretic drug use in the aging population: a systematic review

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Authors and Affiliations

Corresponding author Seema Mahesh Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia Centre For Classical Homeopathy, Bengaluru, India International Academy of Classical Homeopathy, Alonissos, Greece E-mail: bhatseema@hotmail.com

Abstract

It is unclear whether fever suppression in the elderly provides long-term benefits or poses risks due to their distinct immune profiles and body temperature regulation compared to younger individuals. This study aimed to assess the long-term health effects of antipyretic treatment during infections in the elderly. A systematic review was conducted, including studies that compared antipyretic treatment with other drugs, therapies, placebo, or no treatment. PubMed, Embase and Cochrane CENTRAL databases were searched. Primary and secondary outcomes were the onset or worsening of chronic inflammatory diseases, fever reduction, length of hospital stay, patient satisfaction, mortality, laboratory indicators of morbidity, and progression to complications, respectively. Out of 11,481 studies screened, 17 were included (two randomized controlled trials [RCTs], seven observational studies, one case series, and seven case reports). None investigated the primary outcome or patient-reported outcomes. The risk of bias in the included studies ranged from unclear to high. Due to the heterogeneity of the studies, a narrative synthesis was conducted, as meta-analysis was not feasible. Antipyretics showed a significant reduction of fever in RCTs. Five studies reported a significant drop in blood pressure, and one showed significant mortality from antipyretics. Morbidity indicators and length of stay were available only in the studies that reported adverse events. The certainty of evidence, assessed using GRADE, was low to very low for all outcomes. Evidence regarding the long-term benefit or harm from fever suppression with antipyretics during infections in the elderly is insufficient.

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About this article

PMC ID: 11611054
PubMed ID: 
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2024-0081

Article Publishing Date (print): 9 2024
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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