The practice of not allowing patients with a fever to have a blanket is predicated on the intriguing and complex scientific relationship between body temperature and medical outcomes.

We know that an elevated temperature correlates with a worse prognosis in noninfectious conditions (post-code, brain injury, stroke, etc.).

Some of this may come from knowing that a fever is a marker of a greater systemic inflammatory response, suggesting a greater severity of insult or injury.

Fever in noninfectious patients may be a surrogate marker of injury rather than just a mechanism of repair.

There is some indication, though, that fever in noninfectious conditions may have an independent and additive negative effect.

The theory behind therapeutic hypothermia in these noninfectious conditions like brain injury and postcode is of questionable benefit.

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