Assessment of Parent`s Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Fever

Fever is a very common reason for consulting in pediatric emergency departments. Parents often have a misperception of this symptom as informations on the care of febrile children at home is rare in Morocco.
We interviewed 1,500 parents of children from birth to age 15 in the pediatric emergency department to seek their knowledge about this symptom.
Only 25% of parents knew the exact temperature threshold defining a febrile state and 40.1% determined their child`s fever subjectively without a thermometer. All parents considered fever to be a very serious condition that can have side effects such as neurological damage (65.1%) generally described by Disability and visual impairment, death (39%), dehydration (13.6%) and renal impairment (10.2%). 53.2% of parents used Paracetamol and more than 61% of them physical means. 46.5% of parents used Traditional treatments.
There is an important lack of knowledge, perception and parental care of childhood fever. The gaps were more marked among parents of low socioeconomic and intellectual level. A large-scale public health campaign would be interesting to explain, reassure and inform massively about the reflexes to have in case of fever in children.