Table 2.
Resource use associated with treating febrile preschool children with paracetamol, ibuprofen, or both. Values are mean (SD) use per episode per child for five day follow-up
| Item of resource use | Paracetamol | Ibuprofen | Paracetamol + ibuprofen | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | Mean (SD) | n | Mean (SD) | n | Mean (SD) | |||
| Primary care consultations at surgery | 51 | 0.24 (0.51) | 50 | 0.30 (0.51) | 52 | 0.42 (0.61) | ||
| Primary care telephone consultations | 52 | 0.08 (0.27) | 50 | 0.06 (0.24) | 52 | 0.04 (0.19) | ||
| Out of hours consultations | 52 | 0.15 (0.50) | 50 | 0.10 (0.10) | 52 | 0.06 (0.31) | ||
| Other primary care consultations | 52 | 0.19 (0.19) | 50 | — | 52 | 0.04 (0.20) | ||
| Prescribed drugs (No of items) | 52 | 0.27 (0.56) | 50 | 0.24 (0.52) | 52 | 0.19 (0.44) | ||
| Over the counter drugs (No of items): | ||||||||
| Excluding study drugs | 52 | 0.44 (0.73) | 50 | 0.36 (0.63) | 52 | 0.52 (0.85) | ||
| Including study drugs | 52 | 1.19 (0.40) | 50 | 1.16 (0.37) | 52 | 2.08 (0.27) | ||
| A&E visits | 51 | 0.04 (0.20) | 50 | 0.10 (0.42) | 52 | 0.04 (0.19) | ||
| Inpatient hospital stays (No of nights) | 51 | 0.02 (0.14) | 49 | 0.12 (0.60) | 52 | 0.08 (0.56) | ||
| Ambulance use (No of journeys) | 51 | — | 50 | 0.06 (0.31) | 52 | 0.02 (0.14) | ||
| Days off work (No of days) | 52 | 0.60 (1.12) | 49 | 0.77 (1.44) | 52 | 0.44 (0.80) | ||
| Loss of income (proportion of parents incurring a cost) | 52 | 0.10 (0.30) | 52 | 0.19 (0.40) | 52 | 0.12 (0.32) | ||
| Childcare cost (proportion of parents incurring a cost) | 52 | 0.04 (0.19) | 52 | 0.08 (0.27) | 52 | 0.06 (0.24) | ||
n=Number of patients included in analysis. A&E=Accident and emergency department.