Characteristics of Afebrile Infants With AOM (N = 1637)
| Demographic | |
|---|---|
| Median age, d (IQR) | 68 (49–80) |
| Age, d, n (%) | |
| 0–28 | 100 (6.1) |
| 29–56 | 444 (27.1) |
| 57–90 | 1093 (66.8) |
| Male, n (%) | 957 (58.5) |
| Ethnicity, n (%) | |
| Hispanic | 595 (36.3) |
| Not Hispanic | 859 (52.5) |
| Unknown or other | 183 (11.2) |
| Term gestation, n (%) | 1217 (74.3) |
| Chronic illnessa, n (%) | 49 (3.0) |
| History of presenting illness, n (%) | |
| History of tactile warmth | 257 (15.7) |
| Measured fever >2 d before ED visit | 92 (5.6) |
| Ear discharge | 422 (25.8) |
| Difficulty feeding | 429 (26.2) |
| Vomiting | 276 (16.9) |
| Diarrhea | 119 (7.3) |
| Decreased urine output | 96 (5.9) |
| Symptoms of upper respiratory infection | 1179 (72.0) |
| General examination, n (%); kb | |
| Ill appearancek | 30 (1.8); 0.56 |
| Respiratory distressk | 75 (4.6); 0.44 |
| Dehydrationk | 28 (1.7); 0.21 |
| Ear examination ≥1 ear , n (%) | |
| Tympanic membrane erythema | 970 (59.3) |
| Bulging tympanic membrane | 564 (34.5) |
| Otorrhea | 477 (29.1) |
All values are frequency (%) except where otherwise indicated.
↵a Includes congenital heart disease (19), major congenital anomaly other than congenital heart disease (10), renal or urologic disorder (6), failure to thrive (4), disease or use of medications that would affect the immune system (3), neurologic disorder (3), chronic lung disease (1), presence of indwelling catheters or shunts (1), and other (7). Does not total 49 because an infant may have >1 chronic illness.
↵b Cohen unweighted k (interrater reliability) was used to measure interrater reliability of 2 assessors’ determination of these findings. Variables with k of 0.21 to 0.40 were considered to have fair agreement, those with k of 0.41 to 0.60 were considered to have moderate agreement, and those with k of 0.61 to 0.80 were considered to have substantial agreement.