Classical fever of unknown origin in 21 countries with different economic development: an international ID-IRI study

Abstract Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is a serious challenge for physicians. The aim of the present study was to consider epidemiology and dynamics of FUO in countries with different economic development. The data of FUO patients hospitalized/followed between 1st July 2016 and 1st July 2021 were collected retrospectively and submitted from referral centers in 21 countries through ID-IRI clinical research platform. The countries were categorized into developing (low-income (LI) and lower middle-income (LMI) economies) and developed countries (upper middle-income (UMI) and high-income (HI) economies). This research included 788 patients. FUO diagnoses were as follows: infections (51.6%;n = 407), neoplasms (11.4%,n = 90), collagen vascular disorders (9.3%,n = 73), undiagnosed (20.1%,n = 158), miscellaneous diseases (7.7%,n = 60). The most common infections were tuberculosis (n = 45, 5.7%), brucellosis (n = 39, 4.9%), rickettsiosis (n = 23, 2.9%), HIV infection (n = 20, 2.5%), and typhoid fever (n = 13, 1.6%). Cardiovascular infections (n = 56, 7.1%) were the most common infectious syndromes. Only collagen vascular disorders were reported significantly more from developed countries (RR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.19–3.38). FUO had similar characteristics in LI/LMI and UMI/HI countries including the portion of undiagnosed cases (OR, 95% CI; 0.87 (0.65 –1.15)), death attributed to FUO (RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.65–1.15,p-value  = 0...
Source: European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research