Children With Fever and Respiratory Symptoms at Out-of-hours Services in Norway

Viral self-limiting infections in respiratory organs among children are common in primary care. Serious infections have low prevalence and are challenging to distinguish from self-limiting infections. Prescription of antibiotics in primary care is still high but stable since 2009 in Norway, and 90% of all antibiotics are prescribed in primary care. C-reactive protein (CRP) has been especially popular in Norway for point-of-care testing in primary care, but its role in ruling-out serious infections and the cut-off value for prescribing antibiotics has been discussed a lot. The aim of this study is to identify if pretesting with CRP of all children 0-6 year with fever or respiratory symptoms at Out-of-Hours Services will affect the prescription of antibiotics and the referral to hospital for children.