This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
- ILR —
- interval likelihood ratio
- LE —
- leukocyte esterase
- UA —
- urine analysis
- UTI —
- urinary tract infection
In this issue of Pediatrics, Liang et al1 apply the concept of interval likelihood ratios (ILRs) to the diagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children under the age of 2 years. The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of a cohort of children <2 years of age who had a urine culture and urine analysis (UA) simultaneously obtained from their emergency department. Their analysis, in contrast to most previous reports, derives ILRs for the scaled results of the UA relative to the diagnosis of UTIs.
Most readers will be familiar with the terms sensitivity and specificity. ILRs are closely related to sensitivity and specificity but have at least 2 advantages. First, a separate ILR can be derived for each value of a test result when there can be more than just positive or negative results. For example, a urine dipslide can quantify the presence of leukocyte esterase (LE) as trace, 1+, 2+, or 3+. Liang et al1 showed 3+ LE increases the probability a child has …
Address correspondence to Stephen M. Downs, MD, MS, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Wake Forest Baptist Health, 486 N Patterson Ave, Winston Salem, NC 27101. E-mail: sdowns{at}wakehealth.edu
Individual Login
Institutional Login
You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your librarian or administrator if you do not have a username and password.
Log in through your institution
Pay Per Article - You may access this article (from the computer you are currently using) for 2 days for US$25.00
Regain Access - You can regain access to a recent Pay per Article purchase if your access period has not yet expired.
In this issue
Jump to section
Related Articles
Cited By...
- No citing articles found.