Safety and efficacy of outpatient follow-up for referred patients with undiagnosed fever: A retrospective cohort study

Fever is one of the most common symptoms seen in patients. The work-up and follow-up of fever in an outpatient-only setting is a reasonable option for stable patients referred for unexplained fever; however, the safety and efficacy of outpatient follow-up for those patients remain unclear. We conducted this study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of outpatient follow-up for referred patients with unexplained fever. This study was a retrospective cohort study. We included patients referred to the outpatient department of the diagnostic medicine of our university hospital for unexplained fever between October 2016 and September 2017. Exclusion criteria were recurrent fever or admission for fever evaluation prior to referral. Main outcomes of interest were the rate of admission without diagnosis, rate of remission of fever, and the total duration of fever in undiagnosed patients. Among 84 patients included in this study, 17 (20%) were diagnosed during outpatient follow-up, 6 (7%) were admitted due to worsened condition, 5 (6%) were lost to follow-up, and 56 (67%) were followed up as outpatients without a diagnosis. Among the 56 undiagnosed patients, fever resolved in 53 during outpatient follow-up with or without treatment (95%). The total duration of resolved fever in undiagnosed patients was within 8 weeks. Follow-up of patients referred for unexplained fever in an outpatient setting is safe and effective.