HRSA-Funded Study Develops a New Clinical Approach to Help Emergency Rooms Care for Febrile Infants

A new clinical prediction rule for emergency department physicians, recently published in JAMA Pediatrics, could help rule out life-threatening bacterial infections among infants up to 2 months of age with fevers, potentially eliminating the need for spinal taps, unnecessary antibiotics and expensive hospital stays.

The new prediction rule recommends using three measures: the levels of bacteria in urine, and serum procalcitonin (a substance produced in response to bacterial infection) and neutrophils (an infection-fighting white blood cell). The researchers can then better rule out a serious bacterial infection (SBI) if tests showed low levels of bacteria and procalcitonin and a normal neutrophil count. They were able to accurately rule out all but three of the 170 cases of SBI ultimately detected, including all cases of meningitis.

Researchers from the HRSA Emergency Medical Services for Children supported Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) developed the rule from a study of more than 1,800 infants seen at 26 emergency departments around the country. Learn more information about PECARN.

Read the abstract from JAMA Pediatrics.