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Radiographic pneumonia in young febrile infants presenting to the emergency department: secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study. Emerg Med J 2023 Dec 22;41(1):13-19

Date

09/29/2023

Pubmed ID

37770118

Pubmed Central ID

PMC10841819

DOI

10.1136/emermed-2023-213089

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85173494840 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   1 Citation

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The lack of evidence-based criteria to guide chest radiograph (CXR) use in young febrile infants results in variation in its use with resultant suboptimal quality of care. We sought to describe the features associated with radiographic pneumonias in young febrile infants.

STUDY DESIGN: Secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study in 18 emergency departments (EDs) in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network from 2016 to 2019. Febrile (≥38°C) infants aged ≤60 days who received CXRs were included. CXR reports were categorised as 'no', 'possible' or 'definite' pneumonia. We compared demographics, clinical signs and laboratory tests among infants with and without pneumonias.

RESULTS: Of 2612 infants, 568 (21.7%) had CXRs performed; 19 (3.3%) had definite and 34 (6%) had possible pneumonias. Patients with definite (4/19, 21.1%) or possible (11/34, 32.4%) pneumonias more frequently presented with respiratory distress compared with those without (77/515, 15.0%) pneumonias (adjusted OR 2.17; 95% CI 1.04 to 4.51). There were no differences in temperature or HR in infants with and without radiographic pneumonias. The median serum procalcitonin (PCT) level was higher in the definite (0.7 ng/mL (IQR 0.1, 1.5)) vs no pneumonia (0.1 ng/mL (IQR 0.1, 0.3)) groups, as was the median absolute neutrophil count (ANC) (definite, 5.8 K/mcL (IQR 3.9, 6.9) vs no pneumonia, 3.1 K/mcL (IQR 1.9, 5.3)). No infants with pneumonia had bacteraemia. Viral detection was frequent (no pneumonia (309/422, 73.2%), definite pneumonia (11/16, 68.8%), possible pneumonia (25/29, 86.2%)). Respiratory syncytial virus was the predominant pathogen in the pneumonia groups and rhinovirus in infants without pneumonias.

CONCLUSIONS: Radiographic pneumonias were uncommon in febrile infants. Viral detection was common. Pneumonia was associated with respiratory distress, but few other factors. Although ANC and PCT levels were elevated in infants with definite pneumonias, further work is necessary to evaluate the role of blood biomarkers in infant pneumonias.

Author List

Florin TA, Ramilo O, Banks RK, Schnadower D, Quayle KS, Powell EC, Pickett ML, Nigrovic LE, Mistry R, Leetch AN, Hickey RW, Glissmeyer EW, Dayan PS, Cruz AT, Cohen DM, Bogie A, Balamuth F, Atabaki SM, VanBuren JM, Mahajan P, Kuppermann N, Febrile Infant Working Group of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN)

Author

Michelle L. Pickett MD Associate Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Child
Emergency Service, Hospital
Fever
Humans
Infant
Pneumonia
Prospective Studies