Back to Search
Start Over
Utility of Rapid Nasopharyngeal Swab for Respiratory Pathogens in the Diagnosis of Viral Infections in Children Hospitalized with Fever: A Prospective Validation Study to Improve Antibiotic Use.
- Source :
- Children; Feb2024, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p225, 13p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Introduction: Fever is among the most common reason for medical assessment and antibiotic prescription in practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate positive and negative predictive values of rapid nasopharyngeal swabs for respiratory pathogens to discriminate viral from bacterial infections. Methods: We prospectively tested children with signs and/or symptoms of infections (e.g., fever, cough, wheezing, suspected urinary tract infection) admitted to a paediatric department. Following discharge, clinical phenotypes were assigned defining a cohort of children having probable/certain viral infection, probable/certain bacterial infection, other inflammatory conditions or healthy controls. Results: In this study, 190 children were enrolled (50.5% females, median age 30.5 (8–86) months). In total, 102 patients (53.7%) were affected by respiratory viral infections, 16 (8.4%) by bacterial infections, 29 (15.3%) were healthy controls and 43 (22.6%) were affected by another pathological condition manifested with fever. In total, 84.3% of patients classified as viral infection tested positive for viruses, compared with 18.8% of patients with bacterial infection (p < 0.001), 18.6% of patients with other condition (p < 0.001) and 17.2% of control patients (p < 0.001). The positive predictive value of NPSs in the diagnosis of viral infection was 88.6% and the negative predictive value was 75.0%. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that rapid NPS tests for respiratory viruses are a useful tool to confirm viral infections in children with fever and improve antibiotic use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- VIRUS disease drug therapy
DIAGNOSIS of bacterial diseases
NASOPHARYNX microbiology
VIRAL disease diagnosis
ANTIBIOTICS
KRUSKAL-Wallis Test
FEVER
PREDICTIVE tests
ACADEMIC medical centers
CAREGIVERS
URINARY tract infections
POINT-of-care testing
RAPID diagnostic tests
RESPIRATORY infections
DIFFERENTIAL diagnosis
FISHER exact test
MANN Whitney U Test
RESPIRATORY organ sounds
T-test (Statistics)
COMPARATIVE studies
QUALITY assurance
COUGH
CHI-squared test
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
DRUG utilization
BACTERIAL diseases
SENSITIVITY & specificity (Statistics)
DATA analysis software
HOSPITAL care of children
LONGITUDINAL method
ALGORITHMS
SYMPTOMS
CHILDREN
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 22279067
- Volume :
- 11
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Children
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 175647773
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/children11020225