- 著者
- Masashi Yamanouchi Yuki Uehara Hirohide Yokokawa Tomohiro Hosoda Yukiko Watanabe Takayoshi Shiga Akihiro Inui Yukiko Otsuki Kazutoshi Fujibayashi Hiroshi Isonuma Toshio Naito
- 出版者
- 一般社団法人 日本内科学会
- 雑誌
- Internal Medicine (ISSN:09182918)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.53, no.21, pp.2471-2475, 2014 (Released:2014-11-01)
- 参考文献数
- 26
- 被引用文献数
- 4 24
Objective The causes of fever of unknown origin (FUO) vary depending on the region and time period. We herein present a study of patients with classic FUO where we investigated differences based on patient background factors, such as age and causative diseases, and changes that have occurred over time. Methods We extracted and analyzed data from the medical records of 256 patients ≥18 years old who met the criteria for classic FUO and were hospitalized between August, 1994 and December, 2012. Results The median age of the patients was 55 years (range: 18-94 years). The cause of FUO was infection in 27.7% of the patients (n=71), non-infectious inflammatory disease (NIID) in 18.4% (47), malignancy in 10.2% (26), other in 14.8% (38), and unknown in 28.9% (74). The most common single cause was human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (n=17). NIID and malignancy were more common in patients ≥65 years old than in patients <65 years old. During 2004-2012, compared to 1994-2003, infections and "other" causes were decreased, whereas NIID, malignancy, and unknown causes were increased. Conclusion FUO associated with HIV/AIDS is increasing in Japan. In addition, as in previous studies in Japan and overseas, our study showed that the number of patients in whom the cause of FUO remains unknown is increasing and exceeds 20% of all cases. The present study identified diseases that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of FUO, providing useful information for the future diagnosis and treatment of FUO.
- 著者
- Toshio Naito Keito Torikai Masafumi Mizooka Fujiko Mitsumoto Kenji Kanazawa Shiro Ohno Hiroyuki Morita Akira Ukimura Nobuhiko Mishima Fumio Otsuka Yoshio Ohyama Noriko Nara Kazunari Murakami Kouichi Mashiba Kenichiro Akazawa Koji Yamamoto Mika Tanei Masashi Yamanouchi Shoichi Senda Susumu Tazuma Jun Hayashi
- 出版者
- 一般社団法人 日本内科学会
- 雑誌
- Internal Medicine (ISSN:09182918)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.54, no.16, pp.1989-1994, 2015 (Released:2015-08-15)
- 参考文献数
- 26
- 被引用文献数
- 7 8
Objective Although inflammatory markers, such as the white blood cell (WBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin, are widely used to differentiate causes of fever of unknown origin (FUO), little is known about the usefulness of this approach. We evaluated relationships between the causes of classical FUO and the levels of inflammatory markers. Methods A nationwide retrospective study including 17 hospitals affiliated with the Japanese Society of Hospital General Medicine was conducted. Patients This study included 121 patients ≥18 years old diagnosed with "classical FUO" (axillary temperature ≥38.0°C at least twice over a ≥3-week period without elucidation of the cause on three outpatient visits or during three days of hospitalization) between January and December 2011. Results The causative disease was infectious diseases in 28 patients (23.1%), non-infectious inflammatory disease (NIID) in 37 patients (30.6%), malignancy in 13 patients (10.7%), other in 15 patients (12.4%) and unknown in 28 patients (23.1%). The rate of malignancy was significantly higher for a WBC count of <4,000 /μL than for a WBC count of 4,000-8,000 /μL (p=0.015). Among the patients with a higher WBC count, the rate of FUO due to NIID tended to be higher and the number of unknown cases tended to be lower. All FUO patients with malignancy showed an ESR of >40 mm/h. A normal ESR appeared to constitute powerful evidence for excluding a diagnosis of malignancy. In contrast, the concentrations of both serum CRP and procalcitonin appeared to be unrelated to the causative disease. Conclusion The present study identified inflammatory markers that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of classical FUO, providing useful information for future diagnosis.