Abstract
There have now been three large prospective studies of febrile infants published within the past 3 years.1-3 Each reports on over 500 patients. Two of the reports, that of Baskin et al1 and that of Jaskiewicz et al,3 in the current issue of Pediatrics, focus on infants meeting low-risk criteria for serious bacterial illness. These two studies ask the question: "If the febrile infant meets these selected low-risk criteria, then with what degree of diagnostic certainty can the examining physician rule out a serious illness?" Statistically, this index of diagnostic certainty is termed negative predictive value. Jaskiewicz et al studied 511 low-risk febrile infants and used 437 of these patients to calculate negative predictive value, which was 98.9%.
- Received April 6, 1994.
- Accepted April 7, 1994.
- Copyright © 1994 by the American Academy of Pediatrics
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