The effect of antipyretic medication on the relationship between heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature in acutely admitted medical patients: A retrospective study

Research has shown an association between body temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate. We speculated that antipyretics could influence this. We performed this study with the aim of clarifying the association. We included 1,612 acutely admitted medically ill patients and registered their use of antipyretics. We performed crude and adjusted linear regression analyses. In adjusted analysis, we found that heart rate increased with 7.3 (95% CI: 4.5, 10.1) beats/min/°C in patients who were not on antipyretics and 10.0 (95% CI: 6.2, 13.9) beats/min/°C in patients who were. Respiratory rate increased 0.4 (95% CI: -0.2, 0.9) and 1.5 (95% CI: 0.6, 2.3), respectively. Our data shows that use of antipyretics affect the association between temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate positively.