OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic usefulness of three clinical signs (temperature, cough, crepitant stertor) for diagnosing pneumonia in children. To evaluate the agreement of two radiologists in evaluating thoracic x-rays (TXR). DESIGN: Study of diagnostic tests. SETTING: Primary care. PARTICIPANTS: 350 clinical histories of children who had an urgent TXR to diagnosis pneumonia between 1st January 1996 and 30th June 1999. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: a) Prevalence of pneumonia in the entire sample and two age-based sub-groups: aged 5 years and under, and over 5; b) positive probability quotients (PQ+) and negative ones (PQ-) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The TXR was seen as the reference standard, and c) kappa index (kappa) for inter-radiologist concordance. RESULTS: Prevalence: the entire sample, 22.9% (95% CI, 18.5-27.3); children aged 5 or less, 20.4% (95% CI, 15.6-25.2); aged over 5, 31.3% (95% CI, 21.1-41.4). The signs studied were only of any use in confirming the diagnosis in children over 5: PQ+ was 3.52 (1.28-9.69). Radiologists coincided in their diagnosis in 93.1% of the TXR (kappa=0.8; 95% CI, 0.77-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: This study did not prove that there was a sub-grouping of clinical signs which confirmed unmistakably the diagnosis of pneumonia in children.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic usefulness of three clinical signs (temperature, cough, crepitant stertor) for diagnosing pneumonia in children. To evaluate the agreement of two radiologists in evaluating thoracic x-rays (TXR). DESIGN: Study of diagnostic tests. SETTING: Primary care. PARTICIPANTS: 350 clinical histories of children who had an urgent TXR to diagnosis pneumonia between 1st January 1996 and 30th June 1999. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: a) Prevalence of pneumonia in the entire sample and two age-based sub-groups: aged 5 years and under, and over 5; b) positive probability quotients (PQ+) and negative ones (PQ-) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The TXR was seen as the reference standard, and c) kappa index (kappa) for inter-radiologist concordance. RESULTS: Prevalence: the entire sample, 22.9% (95% CI, 18.5-27.3); children aged 5 or less, 20.4% (95% CI, 15.6-25.2); aged over 5, 31.3% (95% CI, 21.1-41.4). The signs studied were only of any use in confirming the diagnosis in children over 5: PQ+ was 3.52 (1.28-9.69). Radiologists coincided in their diagnosis in 93.1% of the TXR (kappa=0.8; 95% CI, 0.77-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: This study did not prove that there was a sub-grouping of clinical signs which confirmed unmistakably the diagnosis of pneumonia in children.
Authors: J Sánchez Ruiz-Cabello; M J Maldonado Espinosa; C Rubio Quevedo; J M Rosales Zabel; M J Pereira Rodríguez; M A Holgado Carballo Journal: An Esp Pediatr Date: 2001-08
Authors: Farhan Pervaiz; Miguel A Chavez; Laura E Ellington; Matthew Grigsby; Robert H Gilman; Catherine H Miele; Dante Figueroa-Quintanilla; Patricia Compen-Chang; Julio Marin-Concha; Eric D McCollum; William Checkley Journal: Chest Date: 2018-10-03 Impact factor: 9.410