Association of Race/Ethnicity and Social Determinants with Rehospitalization for Mental Health Conditions at Acute Care Children's Hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate associations of race/ethnicity and social determinants with 90-day rehospitalization for mental health conditions to acute care nonpsychiatric children's hospitals. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of mental health hospitalizations for children aged 5-18 years from 2016 to 2018 at 32 freestanding US children's hospitals using the Children's Hospital Association's Pediatric Health Information System database to assess the association of race/ethnicity and social determinants (insurance payer, neighborhood median household income, and rurality of patient home location) with 90-day rehospitalization. Risk factors for rehospitalization were modeled using mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Among 23 556 index hospitalizations, there were 1382 mental health rehospitalizations (5.9%) within 90 days. Non-Hispanic Black children were 26% more likely to be rehospitalized than non-Hispanic White children (aOR 1.26, 95% CI 1.08-1.48). Those with government insurance were 18% more likely to be rehospitalized than those with private insurance (aOR 1.18, 95% CI 1.04-1.34). In contrast, those living in a suburban location were 22% less likely to be rehospitalized than those living in an urban location (suburban: aOR 0.78, 95% CI 0.63-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: Non-Hispanic Black children and those with public insurance were at greatest risk for 90-day rehospitalization, and risk was lower in those residing in suburban locations. Future work should focus on upstream interventions that will best attenuate social disparities to promote equity in pediatric mental healthcare.

Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes of Influenza-Associated Neurologic Complications in Children.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of neurologic complications associated with influenza in hospitalized children. STUD DESIGN: We performed a cross-sectional study of children (2 months through 17 years of age) with influenza discharged from 49 children's hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information System during the influenza seasons of 2015-2020. Neurologic complications were defined as encephalopathy, encephalitis, aseptic meningitis, febrile seizure, nonfebrile seizure, brain abscess and bacterial meningitis, Reye syndrome, and cerebral infarction. We assessed length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) admission, ICU LOS, 30-day hospital readmissions, deaths, and hospital costs associated with these events. Patient-level risk factors associated with neurologic complications were identified using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Of 29 676 children hospitalized with influenza, 2246 (7.6%) had a concurrent diagnosis of a neurologic complication; the most frequent were febrile seizures (5.0%), encephalopathy (1.7%), and nonfebrile seizures (1.2%). Hospital LOS, ICU admission, ICU LOS, deaths, and hospital costs were greater in children with neurologic complications compared with those without complications. Risk factors associated with neurologic complications included male sex (aOR 1.1, 95% CI 1.02-1.21), Asian race/ethnicity (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.4-2.1) (compared with non-Hispanic White), and the presence of a chronic neurologic condition (aOR 3.7, 95% CI 3.1-4.2). CONCLUSIONS: Neurologic complications are common in children hospitalized with influenza, especially among those with chronic neurologic conditions, and are associated with worse outcomes compared with children without neurologic complications. These findings emphasize the strategic importance of influenza immunization and treatment, especially in high-risk populations.

Group B Streptococcus Meningitis in an Infant with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Detection.

We report our experience caring for an infant with respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV) and group B Streptococcus (GBS) bacteremia and meningitis. Concurrent GBS meningitis and RSV is rare but highlights the importance of correlating clinical symptoms with viral diagnostic testing during the evaluation of infants at risk for serious bacterial infection.

Impact of Clinician Engagement on Implementation of the Pediatric Echocardiography Appropriate Use Criteria.

We sought to determine whether awareness of the pediatric appropriate use criteria (AUC) affected transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) ordering by cardiologists; evaluate for differences in classification of an encounter's AUC clinical scenario by investigator chart review compared with clinicians at the time of the encounter; and assess TTE yield by appropriateness rating. AUC clinical scenario(s) were assigned to patients without prior TTE by investigator chart review of visits in 2014 (n = 209) and 2016 (n = 199), and by clinician classification in 2016 (n = 671). Investigators documented TTE utilization and findings. Between 2014 and 2016, TTE utilization decreased from 54 to 33% (p < 0.001) of "rarely appropriate" (R) encounters, resulting in a decrease in overall TTE utilization from 73 to 55% of encounters (p < 0.001). There was only moderate agreement of AUC appropriateness by investigator chart review and clinician classification (κ = 0.533, p < 0.001). Abnormal TTE findings were detected in 18.7% of R encounters, with 21 of 24 abnormalities in infants younger than 4 months presenting with murmur. A decrease in TTE utilization for R encounters may represent a change in practice from increased awareness of the AUC. AUC scenario classification by clinicians at the time of the encounter could be superior to chart review. TTE abnormalities may be missed in infants younger than 4 months of age when evaluated for murmurs with the AUC.

Reducing Time to Postintubation Sedation in a Pediatric Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Inadequate postintubation sedation (PIS) can lead to unplanned extubations, conscious paralysis, and overall unsafe care of patients. From 2018 to 2020, we realized at our hospital that ∼25% of children received sedation in an adequate time frame in the pediatric emergency department, with 2 unplanned dislodgements of the endotracheal tube. Our objective was to reduce time to initiating PIS from a mean of 39 minutes to less than 15 minutes in our pediatric emergency department by September 2021. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team was formed in March 2020 to develop a key driver diagram and a protocol to standardize PIS. Baseline data were obtained from December 2017 through March 2020. The primary measure was time from intubation to administration of first sedation medication. Plan-do-study-act cycles informed interventions for protocol development, awareness, education, order set development, and PIS checklist. The secondary measure was unplanned extubations and the balancing measure was PIS-related hypotension requiring pressors. An X-bar and S chart were used to analyze data. RESULTS: Protocol implementation was associated with decrease in mean time to PIS from 39 minutes to 21 minutes. Following educational interventions, order set implementation, and the addition of PIS plan to the intubation checklist, there was a decrease in mean time to PIS to 13 minutes, which was sustained for 9 months without any observed episodes of PIS-related hypotension or unplanned extubations. CONCLUSIONS: Quality improvement methodology led to a sustained reduction in time to initiation of PIS in a pediatric emergency department.

Disparities in Pharmacologic Restraint for Children Hospitalized in Mental Health Crisis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Children hospitalized with a mental health crisis often receive pharmacologic restraint for management of acute agitation. We examined associations between pharmacologic restraint use and race and ethnicity among children admitted for mental health conditions to acute care nonpsychiatric children's hospitals. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of children (aged 5-≤18 years) admitted for a primary mental health condition from 2018 to 2022 at 41 US children's hospitals. Pharmacologic restraint use was defined as parenteral administration of medications for acute agitation. The association of race and ethnicity and pharmacologic restraint was assessed using generalized linear multivariable mixed models adjusted for clinical and demographic factors. Stratified analyses were performed based on significant interaction analyses between covariates and race and ethnicity. RESULTS: The cohort included 61 503 hospitalizations. Compared with non-Hispanic Black children, children of non-Hispanic White (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72-0.92), Asian (aOR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.68-0.99), or other race and ethnicity (aOR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.57-0.82) were less likely to receive pharmacologic restraint. There was no significant difference with Hispanic children. When stratified by sex, racial/ethnic differences were magnified in males (aORs, 0.49-0.68), except for Hispanic males, and not found in females (aORs, 0.83-0.93). Sensitivity analysis revealed amplified disparities for all racial/ethnic groups, including Hispanic youth (aOR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.47-0.91). CONCLUSIONS: Non-Hispanic Black children were significantly more likely to receive pharmacologic restraint. More research is needed to understand reasons for these disparities, which may be secondary to implicit bias and systemic and interpersonal racism.

Reducing the Frequency of Pulse Oximetry Alarms at a Children's Hospital.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Alarm fatigue is exacerbated by frequent, nonactionable physiologic monitor alarms. Overutilization of pulse oximetry (SpO2) compounds this alarm burden. Narrow default alarm limits and overutilization of continuous (CSpO2) rather than intermittent monitoring contribute to nonactionable alarms. There were 1.12 million SpO2 alarms on included units during the baseline period, of which 41.0% were for SpO2 ≥ 88%. We aimed to decrease SpO2 alarms per patient day by 20% within 12 months. METHODS: This quality improvement study included patients admitted January 2019 to June 2022. Intensive care and cardiology units were excluded. Interventions included (1) changing default alarm SpO2 limits on monitors from <90% to <88%, (2) changing SpO2 order default from continuous to intermittent, and (3) adding indication requirements for CSpO2. Outcome measures were total SpO2 alarms and alarms for SpO2 ≥ 88% per patient day. Balancing measures were high acuity transfers and code blues without CSpO2 ordered. Control charts were used for each. RESULTS: Our study included 120 408 patient days with 2.98 million SpO2 alarms. Total SpO2 alarms and alarms for SpO2 ≥ 88% per patient day decreased by 5.48 (30.57 to 25.09; 17.9%) and 4.48 (12.50 to 8.02; 35.8%), respectively. Special cause improvement was associated with changing default monitor alarm parameters. Balancing measures remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: SpO2 monitors alarm frequently at our children's hospital. Widening default alarm limits was associated with decreased SpO2 alarms, particularly nonactionable alarms (≥88%). This high-reliability intervention may be applied, when appropriate, to other monitor alarm parameters to further mitigate alarm burden.

Pharmacologic restraint use for children experiencing mental health crises in pediatric hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Children in mental health crises are increasingly admitted to children's hospitals awaiting inpatient psychiatric placement. During hospitalization, patients may exhibit acute agitation prompting pharmacologic restraint use. OBJECTIVE: To determine hospital-level incidence and variation of pharmacologic restraint use among children admitted for mental health conditions in children's hospitals. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We examined data for children (5 to ≤18 years) admitted to children's hospitals with a primary mental health condition from 2018 to 2020 using the Pediatric Health Information System database. Hospital rates of parenteral pharmacologic restraint use per 1000 mental health bed days were determined and compared after adjusting for patient-level and demographic factors. Cluster analysis (k-means) was used to group hospitals based on overall restraint use (rate quartiles) and drug class. Hospital-level factors for pharmacologic restraint use were compared. RESULTS: Of 29,834 included encounters, 3747 (12.6%) had pharmacologic restraint use. Adjusted hospital rates ranged from 35 to 389 pharmacologic restraint use days per 1000 mental health bed days with a mean of 175 (standard deviation: 72). Cluster analysis revealed three hospitals were high utilizers of all drug classes. No significant differences in pharmacologic restraint use were found in the hospital-level analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Children's hospitals demonstrate wide variation in pharmacologic restraint rates for mental health hospitalizations, with a 10-fold difference in adjusted rates between highest and lowest utilizers, and high overall utilizers order medications across all drug classes.

Improving the Quality of Written Discharge Instructions: A Multisite Collaborative Project.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Written discharge instructions help to bridge hospital-to-home transitions for patients and families, though substantial variation in discharge instruction quality exists. We aimed to assess the association between participation in an Institute for Healthcare Improvement Virtual Breakthrough Series collaborative and the quality of pediatric written discharge instructions across 8 US hospitals. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, interrupted time-series analysis of a medical records-based quality measure focused on written discharge instruction content (0-100 scale, higher scores reflect better quality). Data were from random samples of pediatric patients (N = 5739) discharged from participating hospitals between September 2015 and August 2016, and between December 2017 and January 2020. These periods consisted of 3 phases: 1. a 14-month precollaborative phase; 2. a 12-month quality improvement collaborative phase when hospitals implemented multiple rapid cycle tests of change and shared improvement strategies; and 3. a 12-month postcollaborative phase. Interrupted time-series models assessed the association between study phase and measure performance over time, stratified by baseline hospital performance, adjusting for seasonality and hospital fixed effects. RESULTS: Among hospitals with high baseline performance, measure scores increased during the quality improvement collaborative phase beyond the expected precollaborative trend (+0.7 points/month; 95% confidence interval, 0.4-1.0; P < .001). Among hospitals with low baseline performance, measure scores increased but at a lower rate than the expected precollaborative trend (-0.5 points/month; 95% confidence interval, -0.8 to -0.2; P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Participation in this 8-hospital Institute for Healthcare Improvement Virtual Breakthrough Series collaborative was associated with improvement in the quality of written discharge instructions beyond precollaborative trends only for hospitals with high baseline performance.

Second opinion interpretations by specialty radiologists at a pediatric hospital: rate of disagreement and clinical implications.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to identify whether a substantive difference exists between the imaging interpretations of radiologists at outside referring institutions and those of radiologists at a tertiary care children's hospital and whether such reinterpretation affects the clinical management of pediatric patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective chart review examined the diagnostic imaging reports of all pediatric patients referred to a tertiary care freestanding children's hospital over a 17-month period (January 1, 2009-May 31, 2010); 773 examinations met the inclusion criteria. The original and second interpretations were compared. A fellowship-trained pediatric radiologist and neuroradiologist categorized each case using the content of the two radiology reports as agreement versus minor or major disagreement, and the results were analyzed for statistical significance. A cohort of cases in which a final diagnosis could be confirmed was also analyzed to evaluate the accuracy of both interpretations. RESULTS: Disagreements were found in 323 of 773 reports (41.8%): 168 (21.7%) were major and 155 (20.0%), minor. Neurologic studies were most frequently requested for reinterpretation, 427 (55.2%), most commonly in the setting of trauma, 286 (67.0%). Among the 427 neuroimaging studies, major and minor disagreements occurred in 54 (12.6%) and 91 (21.3%) cases, respectively. Major disagreements most frequently observed were about the presence of fracture and hemorrhage. Among 305 body imaging cases, major and minor disagreements occurred in 99 (32.6%) and 57 (18.7%) cases, respectively. The most common setting for nontraumatic body imaging was concern for appendicitis (168/305 [55.1%]); this indication for imaging was responsible for 40.3% of major disagreements in nontraumatic abdominal imaging. Reinterpretation was rarely requested for radiographic studies (41/773 [5.3%]), which had major and minor disagreement rates of 36.6% and 17.1%, respectively. In the cohort of cases analyzed for final diagnosis, the second interpretation was more accurate than the original in 90.2% of cases with a p value of less than 0.0001. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that discrepancy rates for second interpretations in studies of pediatric patients transferred to tertiary care pediatric institutions are substantial. Although the original and second interpretations in the majority of cases were in agreement, major discrepancies were prevalent--12.6% and 32.6% of neuroimaging and body studies, respectively--and the second interpretations were significantly correlated with the final diagnosis. These results indicate that interpretations by subspecialty radiologists at a point-of-care facility provide important clinical information about the pediatric patient and should be recognized by payers as integral to optimal care.

Designing and Conducting Scholarly Quality Improvement: A Practical Guide for Improvers Everywhere.

Successful publication of quality improvement (QI) work is predicated on the use of established QI frameworks and rigorous analytical methods that allow teams to understand the impact of interventions over time. This article is meant to help QI teams disseminate their work more broadly through publication by providing tangible methods that many journals desire in QI articles with specific examples of published works referenced throughout the article. We introduce improvement frameworks that teams should identify early and use as a foundation throughout their projects. We review vital aspects of QI projects, such as team formation, creation of a succinct and clear aim statement, defining primary, process, and balancing measures, as well as QI tools like key driver diagrams, Ishikawa (fishbone) diagrams, and Pareto charts. Finally, we highlight the importance of analyzing data over time to understand the impacts of plan-do-study-act cycles on data. Annotated run charts or, more preferably, annotated statistical process control (or Shewhart) charts are both statistically sound methods to identify significant changes over time. Deliberate planning and execution of QI projects using these concepts will lead to improved chances of QI teams finding success in their project and eventual article acceptance.

Decreasing pre-procedural fasting times in hospitalized children.

OBJECTIVE: Prolonged pre-procedural fasting in children is associated with decreased patient and family satisfaction and increased patient hemodynamic instability. Practice guidelines recommend clear liquid fasting times of 2 h. We aimed to decrease pre-procedural clear liquid fasting time from 10 h 13 min to 5 h for pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) patients. METHODS: All children admitted to the PHM service at a quaternary care children's hospital with an NPO (nil per os) order associated with a procedure requiring general anesthesia or sedation from November 2, 2017 to September 19, 2021 were included. The primary outcome measure was the average time from clear liquid fasting end time to anesthesia start time. The process measure was the percent of NPO orders including a documented clear liquid fasting end time. Balancing measures were aspiration events and case delays/cancellations. Statistical process control charts were used to analyze outcomes. RESULTS: Shortly after implementation of a SmartPhrase in the NPO order, there was special cause variation resulting in a centerline shift from a mean of 10 h 13 min to 6 h 37 min and an increase in the process measure from a baseline of 2%-52%. Following implementation of a hospital-wide change to the NPO order format, another centerline shift to 6 h 7 min occurred which has been sustained for 6 months. No aspiration events and four NPO violations occurred during the intervention period. CONCLUSION: Quality improvement methodology and higher reliability interventions safely decreased the average pre-procedural fasting time in hospitalized children.

Prospective Observational Study of Clinical Outcomes After Intravenous Magnesium for Moderate and Severe Acute Asthma Exacerbations in Children.

BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge regarding whether intravenous magnesium (IV-Mg) improves outcomes in children with acute asthma exacerbations. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether IV-Mg improves outcomes in children with moderate and severe exacerbations. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis using data from a prospective observational cohort of children aged 5 to 17 years with moderate and severe exacerbations. Standardized treatment included systemic corticosteroid and inhaled albuterol, with consideration of IV-Mg (75 mg/kg) for patients with insufficient response after 20 minutes. Propensity score (PS) models were used to examine associations of IV-Mg treatment with change in the validated Acute Asthma Intensity Research Score, hospitalization rate, and time to spacing of inhaled albuterol of 4 hours or more among hospitalized participants. RESULTS: Among 301 children, median (interquartile range) age was 8.1 (6.4-10.2) years, 170 were Black (57%), 201 were male (67%), and 84 received IV-Mg (28%). In a PS covariate-adjusted multivariable linear regression model, IV-Mg treatment was associated with a 2-hour increase in the Acute Asthma Intensity Research Score (ß-coefficient = 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.20-1.77), indicating increased exacerbation severity. Three additional PS-based models yielded similar results. Participants receiving IV-Mg had 5.8-fold (95% CI, 2.8-11.9) and 6.8-fold (95% CI, 3.6-12.9) greater odds of hospitalization in PS-based multivariable regression models. Among hospitalized participants, there was no difference in time to albuterol of every 4 hours or more in a PS covariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards model (hazard ratio = 1.2; 95% CI, 0.8-1.8). CONCLUSIONS: Among children with moderate and severe exacerbations, IV-Mg is associated with increased exacerbation severity, increased risk for hospitalization, and no acceleration in exacerbation resolution among hospitalized participants.

Variation in Dexamethasone Dosing and Use Outcomes for Inpatient Croup.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the association between dexamethasone dosing and outcomes for children hospitalized with croup. METHODS: This study was nested within a multisite prospective cohort study of children aged 6 months to 6 years admitted to 1 of 5 US children's hospitals between July 2014 and June /2016. Multivariable linear and logistic mixed-effects regression models were used to examine the association between the number of dexamethasone doses (1 vs >1) and outcomes (length of stay [LOS], cost, and 30-day same-cause reuse). All multivariable analyses included a site-specific random effect to account for clustering within hospital and were adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, presenting severity, medical complexity, insurance, caregiver education, and hospital. In cost analyses, we controlled for LOS. RESULTS: Among 234 children hospitalized with croup, patient characteristics did not differ by number of doses. The proportion receiving >1 dose varied by hospital (range 27.9%-57.1%). In adjusted analyses, >1 dose was not associated with same-cause reuse (odds ratio 0.87 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.26 to 2.95]) but was associated with 45% longer LOS (relative risk = 1.45 [95% CI: 1.30 to 1.62]). When we controlled for LOS, >1 dose was not associated with differential cost ($-31.2 [95% CI $-424.4 to $362.0]). Eighty-two (35%) children received dexamethasone before presentation. CONCLUSIONS: We found significant interhospital variation in dexamethasone dosing and LOS. When we controlled for severity on presentation, >1 dexamethasone dose was associated with longer LOS but not reuse. Although incomplete adjustment for severity is one possible explanation, some providers may routinely keep children hospitalized to administer multiple dexamethasone doses.

Low-dose methylprednisolone treatment in critically ill patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia.

PURPOSE: Severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) requiring intensive care unit admission is associated with significant acute and long-term morbidity and mortality. We hypothesized that downregulation of systemic and pulmonary inflammation with prolonged low-dose methylprednisolone treatment would accelerate pneumonia resolution and improve clinical outcomes. METHODS: This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial recruited adult patients within 72-96 h of hospital presentation. Patients were randomized in 1:1 ratio; an intravenous 40 mg loading bolus was followed by 40 mg/day through day 7 and progressive tapering during the 20-day treatment course. Randomization was stratified by site and need for mechanical ventilation (MV) at the time of randomization. Outcomes included a primary endpoint of 60-day all-cause mortality and secondary endpoints of morbidity and mortality up to 1 year of follow-up. RESULTS: Between January 2012 and April 2016, 586 patients from 42 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers were randomized, short of the 1420 target sample size because of low recruitment. 584 patients were included in the analysis. There was no significant difference in 60-day mortality between the methylprednisolone and placebo arms (16% vs. 18%; adjusted odds ratio 0.90, 95% CI 0.57-1.40). There were no significant differences in secondary outcomes or complications. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with severe CAP, prolonged low-dose methylprednisolone treatment did not significantly reduce 60-day mortality. Treatment was not associated with increased complications.

Clinician collaboration to improve clinical decision support: the Clickbusters initiative.

OBJECTIVE: We describe the Clickbusters initiative implemented at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), which was designed to improve safety and quality and reduce burnout through the optimization of clinical decision support (CDS) alerts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a 10-step Clickbusting process and implemented a program that included a curriculum, CDS alert inventory, oversight process, and gamification. We carried out two 3-month rounds of the Clickbusters program at VUMC. We completed descriptive analyses of the changes made to alerts during the process, and of alert firing rates before and after the program. RESULTS: Prior to Clickbusters, VUMC had 419 CDS alerts in production, with 488 425 firings (42 982 interruptive) each week. After 2 rounds, the Clickbusters program resulted in detailed, comprehensive reviews of 84 CDS alerts and reduced the number of weekly alert firings by more than 70 000 (15.43%). In addition to the direct improvements in CDS, the initiative also increased user engagement and involvement in CDS. CONCLUSIONS: At VUMC, the Clickbusters program was successful in optimizing CDS alerts by reducing alert firings and resulting clicks. The program also involved more users in the process of evaluating and improving CDS and helped build a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement of clinical content in the electronic health record.

Significance of epiphyseal cartilage enhancement defects in pediatric osteomyelitis identified by MRI with surgical correlation.

BACKGROUND: Epiphyseal cartilage enhancement defects (ED) may occur in the setting of epiphyseal osteomyelitis (OM), and its significance is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the incidence and clinical impact of epiphyseal cartilage ED in pediatric epiphyseal OM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 13 children involved in this retrospective review were younger than 6 years of age and diagnosed with OM. They underwent contrast-enhanced MRI and surgical exploration yielding 14 study epiphyses. Seventeen age-matched children without evidence of infection who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI in the same period yielded 28 control epiphyses. Images were reviewed for focal/global ED, correlated with cartilage abscesses and compared with surgical reports. RESULTS: Study and control ED were respectively present in 10/14 (71.4%-6 global, 4 focal) and 6/28 (21.4%-0 global, 6 focal), P=0.0017. An analysis of ED patterns between study and control patients showed significant difference for global (P=0.0006), but no difference for focal ED (P=0.71). For the six study epiphyses with global ED, epiphyseal abscesses were present in two (33.3%). For the four study epiphyses with focal ED, epiphyseal abscesses were present in two (50%). For the controls, no abnormalities were found on follow-up of epiphyses with focal ED. CONCLUSION: ED are seen normally but more commonly in children with OM. ED should not be confused with epiphyseal abscesses.