A5V4d

Feverish illness in children
13.2 Glossary
Absolute risk Measures the probability of an event or outcome occurring (e.g. an adverse
reaction to the drug being tested) in the group of people under study. Studies
that compare two or more groups of patients may report results in terms of the
absolute risk reduction.
Absolute risk reduction
(ARR)
288
The ARR is the difference in the risk of an event occurring between two groups
of patients in a study – for example, if 6% of patients die after receiving a new
experimental drug and 10% of patients die after having the old drug treatment
then the ARR is 10% − 6% = 4%. Thus by using the new drug instead of the
old drug 4% of patients can be prevented from dying. Here the ARR measures
the risk reduction associated with a new treatment. See also absolute risk.
Acute sector Hospital-based health services which are provided on an inpatient, day case or
outpatient basis.
Acute trust A trust is an NHS organisation responsible for providing a group of healthcare
services. An acute trust provides hospital services (but not mental health
hospital services, which are provided by a mental health trust).
Allied health professionals Healthcare professionals other than doctors and nurses directly involved in the
provision of health care. Includes several groups such as physiotherapists,
occupational therapists and dietitians. (Formerly known as professions allied to
medicine or PAMs.)
Ambulatory care All types of health services provided to patients who are not confined to a
hospital bed as inpatients during the time services are rendered. Examples
relevant to this guideline would include attendance to a walk-in centre or
paediatric assessment unit, or the provision of care by paediatric community
nurses.
Antipyretic interventions Procedures or medications used with the intent of reducing body temperature
in patients with fever. The term includes physical cooling methods and
antipyretic medication. Paracetamol and ibuprofen are the drugs commonly
used for this purpose in the UK.
Applicability The extent to which the results of a study or review can be applied to the target
population for a clinical guideline.
Appraisal of evidence Formal assessment of the quality of research evidence and its relevance to the
clinical question or guideline under consideration, according to predetermined
criteria.
Bacteraemia The presence of bacteria in the blood. In this condition the bacteria are not
causing an infection in the bloodstream (cf. septicaemia).
Best available evidence The strongest research evidence available to support a particular guideline
recommendation.
Bias Influences on a study that can lead to invalid conclusions about a treatment or
intervention. Bias in research can make a treatment look better or worse than it
really is. Bias can even make it look as if the treatment works when it actually
does not. Bias can occur by chance or as a result of systematic errors in the
design and execution of a study. Bias can occur at various stages in the
research process, e.g. in the collection, analysis, interpretation, publication or
review of research data. For examples see selection bias, performance bias,
information bias, confounder or confounding factor, publication bias.
Blinding or masking The practice of keeping the investigators or subjects of a study ignorant of the
group to which a subject has been assigned. For example, a clinical trial in
which the participating patients or their doctors are unaware of whether they
(the patients) are taking the experimental drug or a placebo (dummy
treatment). The purpose of ‘blinding’ or ‘masking’ is to protect against bias. See