A 4 year old child presents to the paediatric accident and emergency department with a history of fever for 12 hours and clinical signs of an upper respiratory tract infection. The temperature on assessment is 39.5°C. There is a past medical history of asthma. The attending emergency doctor prescribes ibuprofen. The mother is not willing to give ibuprofen to her child, as she was told in the past that it is contraindicated in children with asthma.

Structured clinical question

In febrile children with a past medical history of asthma [patient], is ibuprofen in antipyretic doses [intervention], compared to paracetamol [comparison], more likely to …