A systematic review of effectiveness of Ibuprofen versus acetaminophen in reducing pediatric fever.

Objective : To summarize previous studies of the effectiveness of single-dose acetaminophen (10-20 mg/kg) comparing with ibuprofen (5-10 mg/kg) for reducing pediatric fever at 4th hour after administration. Methods : Reports were gathered by searching from electronic databases (from Jan 1990 to Aug 2008), hand-searching, reference lists and Identification of unpublished studies by consulting expert. Result : Three double blinded randomized control trials with children under 12 years old receiving either medication (ibuprofen or acetaminophen) to reduce fever were selected. Outcomes were measured in differences in mean of body temperature before and after receiving medication. Heterogeneity was addressed,12 test = 0.84. Qualitative data was presented. Two studies revealed that there was no statistical difference between ibuprofen and acetaminophen, while the other one statistically preferred ibuprofen. Conclusions : Due to high heterogeneity, our study can not draw any conclusion about the effectiveness of antipyretic between ibuprofen and acetaminophen. In addition,more studies will be required