A comparison between cold water sponging and fanning in reducing fever in intensive care unit inpatients: a factorial design

Fever incidence is reported 25 to 50 percent. Controlled body temperature reduction is effective in reducing mortality. Lowering the body temperature is not always without risk. Thus, research is necessary for the identification of a safe method.

This is a randomized clinical trial with the factorial design. The statistical population includes patients admitted Qazvin university of medical sciences intensive care units. Using the convenient sampling method, 72 samples were selected and randomly divided into four groups: control, cold water sponging, fanning and combination groups. Results of the interventions were recorded on researcher-made checklist. The collected data was analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA along with intergroup factor and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and interaction was measured using two-way ANOVA. Statistical significance level was considered to be 0.05.

After four hours of intervention, the average body temperature in control group was 38.52 ± 0.17 degrees centigrade, in cold sponging was 37.83 ± 0.13, in fanning was 37.50 ± 0.11 and in combination group was 36.82 ± 0.04 (P<0.007). According to the results of two-way ANOVA no significant interaction was observed between cold water sponging and fanning methods (P=0.7).

The combined method reduced patients’ body temperature faster with less fluctuation. As a result, the time of reaching the desired temperature using the combined method was more predictable than other methods.