Bacteremia in Children With Fever and Acute Lower Extremity Pain.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Blood cultures (BCxs) are often obtained in the initial evaluation of children with fever and acute lower extremity pain; however, their yield in this population is unknown. We aim to describe the prevalence of bacteremia among children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with fever and acute lower extremity pain and identify predictors of bacteremia. METHODS: Cross-sectional review of children aged 1 to 18 years presenting to the ED with fever and acute lower extremity pain between 2010 and 2020. We excluded patients with trauma within the previous 24 hours, orthopedic comorbidity, immunocompromised status, or antibiotic pretreatment. We identified our cohort using a Natural Language Processing-assisted model with manual review and abstracted clinical data. Our primary outcome was a BCx positive for a pathogen. RESULTS: We screened 478 979 ED notes and identified 689 patients who met inclusion criteria. Median age was 5.3 years (interquartile range 2.7-8.8); 39.5% were female. BCxs were obtained from 75.9% (523/689) of patients, of which 510 were available for review. BCxs were positive in 70/510 (13.7%; 95% CI, confidence interval [CI], 10.9-17.0) of children and in 70/689 (10.2%; 95% CI, 8.0-12.7%) of the entire cohort. The most common pathogens were methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (71.6%) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (15.7%). Predictors of bacteremia include C-reactive protein ≥3 mg/dL (odds ratio, 4.5; 95% CI, 2.1-9.6) and localizing examination findings (odds ratio, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.4-7.9). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of bacteremia among children presenting to the ED with fever and acute lower extremity pain is high. Routine BCx should be considered in the initial evaluation of this population.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic value of four biomarkers in detecting neonatal sepsis in low- and middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: Biomarkers may enhance diagnostic capability for common paediatric infections, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where standard diagnostic modalities are frequently unavailable, but disease burden is high. A comprehensive understanding of the diagnostic capability of commonly available biomarkers for neonatal sepsis in LMICs is lacking. Our objective was to systematically review evidence on biomarkers to understand their diagnostic performance for neonatal sepsis in LMICs. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and Arabic reporting the diagnostic performance of C reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell count (WBC) and procalcitonin (PCT) for neonatal sepsis. We calculated pooled test characteristics and the area under the curve (AUC) for each biomarker compared with the reference standards blood culture or clinical sepsis defined by each article. RESULTS: Of 6570 studies related to biomarkers in children, 134 met inclusion criteria and included 23 179 neonates. There were 80 (59.7%) studies conducted in LMICs. CRP of ≥60 mg/L (AUC 0.87, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.91) among 1339 neonates and PCT of ≥0.5 ng/mL (AUC 0.87, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.92) among 617 neonates demonstrated the greatest discriminatory value for the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis using blood culture as the reference standard in LMICs. CONCLUSIONS: PCT and CRP had good discriminatory value for neonatal sepsis in LMICs. ESR and WBC demonstrated poor discrimination for neonatal sepsis in LMICs. Future studies may incorporate biomarkers into clinical evaluation in LMICs to diagnose neonatal sepsis more accurately. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020188680.