![]() ![]() ![]() This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team Grants Program (CIHR Team in Pediatric Emergency Medicine) (grant #G118160601). ![]() Received: ApAccepted: JPublished: August 6, 2010Ĭopyright: © 2010 Lynch et al. PLoS ONE 5(8):Įditor: Luis Huicho, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru (2010) A Systematic Review on the Diagnosis of Pediatric Bacterial Pneumonia: When Gold Is Bronze. PCT was the most common measured in five studies each with a different gold standard.Ĭitation: Lynch T, Bialy L, Kellner JD, Osmond MH, Klassen TP, Durec T, et al. Fourteen different tests were measured as index tests. The most common gold standard utilized was blood culture tests used in six studies. Criterion validity was calculated for fourteen different index tests using eleven different gold standards. Eleven different gold standards were studied in the 25 included studies. The studies examined a range of bacterium types and assessed the accuracy of several combinations of diagnostic tests. The literature search revealed 5,989 references of which 256 were screened for inclusion, resulting in 25 studies that satisfied all inclusion criteria. Published studies were included if they: 1) included children one month to 18 years of age, 2) provided sufficient data regarding diagnostic accuracy to construct a 2×2 table, and 3) assessed the accuracy of one or more index tests as compared with other test(s) used as a ‘gold standard’. Search strategies were developed using a combination of subject headings and keywords adapted for 18 electronic bibliographic databases from inception to May 2008. The objectives of this systematic review are to: 1) identify and categorize studies that have used single or multiple tests as a gold standard for assessing accuracy of other tests, and 2) given the ‘gold standard’ used, determine the accuracy of these other tests for diagnosing childhood bacterial pneumonia. These factors have resulted in clinicians historically using a combination of physical signs and chest radiographs as a ‘gold standard’, though this combination of tests has been shown to be imperfect for diagnosis and assigning treatment. There is no single test that reliably distinguishes bacterial from non-bacterial causes. Numerous studies have shown that chest radiography findings lack precision in defining the etiology of childhood pneumonia. Clinicians traditionally have used the chest radiograph as the gold standard in the diagnosis of pneumonia, but they are becoming increasingly aware that it is not ideal. In North America, pneumonia is also a common source of childhood morbidity and occasionally mortality. In developing countries, pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in children under five years of age and hence timely and accurate diagnosis is critical. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |