ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are a common cause of inappropriate antibiotic prescription (ATB) in pediatrics. FebriDx® is a rapid diagnostic test that differentiates between viral and bacterial infections. The objective is to analyse the impact of FebriDx® on ATB prescription when managing febrile ARI. METHODS: Prospective study carried out in patients aged 1-<18 years with febrile ARI in the emergency department. FebriDx® was performed and the impact on management was evaluated at follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 216 patients were included. Clinical assessment and FebriDx® result coincided coincided in 174 (80.5%) cases. A modification of the initial therapeutic plan was made in 22 (52.4%) of the 42 discordant ones (10.2% of the overall patients). In pneumonia the impact was 34.5%; in all cases it involved not prescribing ATB. CONCLUSIONS: FebriDx® could be a useful tool in the management of pediatric patients with febrile ARI to optimize ATB prescription.
Subject(s)
Fever , Respiratory Tract Infections , Humans , Prospective Studies , Child, Preschool , Respiratory Tract Infections/drug therapy , Respiratory Tract Infections/diagnosis , Infant , Child , Male , Fever/drug therapy , Fever/etiology , Female , Acute Disease , Adolescent , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Objetiva-se apresentar o processo de avaliação e confirmação dos indicadores de Altas Habilidades/Superdotação de um estudante, pré e pós-oferta de enriquecimento intracurricular e extracurricular. A pesquisa configura-se como descritiva, do tipo casuístico. Participou do estudo um estudante com indicadores de Altas Habilidades/Superdotação, matriculado nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública estadual do interior de São Paulo. A coleta de dados foi realizada na escola e no Centro de Psicologia Aplicada de uma Universidade Pública da cidade, por meio de uma avaliação multimodal, envolvendo uma bateria de instrumentos aplicados junto à mãe e ao estudante, incluindo avaliação pedagógica, psicológica e psicomotora. Os resultados indicaram que o estudante apresenta fortes indicadores de Altas Habilidades/Superdotação, demonstrando desempenho acima da média, com destaque em matemática, leitura e escrita, os quais puderam ser confirmados tanto pela avaliação pedagógica quanto pela psicológica, e alto desempenho na área de psicomotricidade. A oferta de enriquecimento intracurricular e extracurricular contribuiu para melhorar o desempenho do estudante.
The objective is to present the process of evaluating and confirming the indicators of High Abilities/Giftedness of a student, pre and post-offer for intracurricular and extracurricular enrichment. The research is descriptive, of the casuistic type. A student with indicators of High Abilities/Giftedness, enrolled in the early years of Elementary School from a state public school in the state of São Paulo, participated in the study. Data collection was carried out at the school and at the Applied Psychology Center of a Public University in the city through a multimodal assessment, involving a battery of instruments applied to the mother and student, including pedagogical, psychological and psychomotor assessment. The results indicated that the student has strong indicators of High Abilities/Giftedness, demonstrating above-average performance, especially in mathematics, reading and writing, which could be confirmed by both the pedagogical and psychological assessment, and high performance in the area of psychomotricity. Offering intra and extra-curricular enrichment has contributed to improving the student's performance.
El objetivo deste estudio es presentar el proceso de evaluación y confirmación de los indicadores de Altas Capacidades/Superdotación, antes y después de la oferta de enriquecimiento intracurricular y extracurricular. La investigación es descriptiva, de tipo casuístico. Participó en el estudio un estudiante con indicadores de Altas Capacidades/ Superdotación matriculado en los primeros años de la Escuela Primaria, de una escuela pública estatal en el interior de São Paulo. La recolección de datos se realizó en la escuela y en el Centro de Psicología Aplicada de una Universidad Pública de la ciudad. Através de una evaluación multimodal, que involucró una batería de instrumentos aplicados a la madre y al alumno, incluyendo evaluación pedagógica, psicológica y psicomotora. Los resultados indicaron que el estudiante tiene fuertes indicadores de Altas Capacidades/Superdotación, demostrando un desempeño superior al promedio, con énfasis en matemáticas, lectura y escritura, lo cual podría ser confirmado tanto por la evaluación pedagógica, la psicológica y de alto desempeño en el área de Psicomotricidad. Ofrecer enriquecimiento intra y extracurricular ha contribuido a mejorar el rendimiento de los estudiantes.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Child , Psychological Tests , Psychomotor Performance , Students , Child, Gifted , Curriculum , Educational MeasurementABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: General practitioners (GP) in Spain do not have access to rapid tests and adherence to guidelines is usually suboptimal. The aim of the study is to evaluate the estimated number of antibiotics that could have been saved if GPs had appropriately used these tests and had followed the guidelines. DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: Primary care centres from eight Autonomous Communities in Spain. PARTICIPANTS: GPs who had not participated in previous studies on rational use of antibiotics. INTERVENTION: GPs registered all the cases of pharyngitis and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) during 15 working days in 2015, by means of a 47-item audit. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Actual GPs' antibiotic prescription and estimated number of antibiotics that could have been saved according to recent guidelines. RESULTS: A total of 126 GPs registered 1012 episodes of pharyngitis and 1928 LRTIs. Antibiotics were given or patients were referred in 497 patients with pharyngitis (49.1%) and 963 patients with LRTI (49.9%). If GPs had appropriately used rapid antigen detection tests and C-reactive protein tests and had strictly followed current guidelines, antibiotics would have been given to 7.6% and 15.1%, respectively, with an estimated saving of 420 antibiotics in patients with sore throat (estimated saving of 84.5%; 95% CI: 81.1-87.4%) and 672 antibiotics in LRTIs (estimated saving of 69.8%,95% CI: 67.1-72.5%). CONCLUSIONS: GP adherence to guidelines and a correct introduction of rapid tests in clinical practice in Spain could result in a considerable saving of unnecessary prescription of antibiotics in pharyngitis and LRTIs.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Drug Utilization/statistics & numerical data , General Practice/standards , Guideline Adherence , Pharyngitis/drug therapy , Respiratory Tract Infections/drug therapy , Adult , Decision Trees , Diagnostic Tests, Routine , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pharyngitis/diagnosis , Respiratory Tract Infections/diagnosis , Spain , Time FactorsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of hyperlipidaemia, along with other non-communicable diseases, is on the rise in low- and middle-income countries. CardioChek PA is a point-of-care lipid measuring device, which seeks to overcome laboratory-based diagnostic barriers by providing immediate results without dependency on significant laboratory infrastructure. However, it has not been validated in Kenya. In this study, we assess the accuracy of CardioChek PA with respect to the gold standard laboratory-based testing. METHODS: In Webuye, Kenya, two blood samples were collected from 246 subjects to simultaneously measure the lipid levels via both CardioChek PA and the gold standard. All subjects were adults, and geographic stratified sampling methods were applied. Statistical analysis of the device's accuracy was based on per cent bias parameters, as established by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH recommends that per cent bias be ≤±3% for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, ≤±5% for high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, ≤±5% for total cholesterol (TC) and ≤±4% for triglycerides (TG). Risk group misclassification rates were also analysed. RESULTS: The CardioChek PA analyzer was substantially inaccurate for LDL cholesterol (-25.9% bias), HDL cholesterol (-8.2% bias) and TC (-15.9% bias). Moreover, those patients at higher risk of complications from hyperlipidaemia were most likely to be misclassified into a lower risk category. CONCLUSION: CardioChek PA is inaccurate and not suitable for our clinical setting. Furthermore, our findings highlight the need to validate new diagnostic tools in the appropriate setting prior to scale up regardless of their potential for novel utility.
Subject(s)
Hyperlipidemias/diagnosis , Point-of-Care Testing/standards , Adult , Cholesterol/blood , Cholesterol, HDL/blood , Cholesterol, LDL/blood , Humans , Hyperlipidemias/blood , Kenya , Reproducibility of Results , Triglycerides/bloodABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of three rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for typhoid fever in febrile hospitalised patients in Bangladesh. METHODS: Febrile adults and children admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh, were investigated with Bact/Alert(®) blood cultures and real-time PCR to detect Salmonella enterica Typhi and Paratyphi A and assays for Rickettsia, leptospirosis and dengue fever. Acute serum samples were examined with the LifeAssay (LA) Test-it™ Typhoid IgM lateral flow assay detecting IgM antibodies against S. Typhi O antigen, CTKBiotech Onsite Typhoid IgG/IgM Combo Rapid-test cassette lateral flow assay detecting IgG and IgM antibodies against S. Typhi O and H antigens and SD Bioline line assay for IgG and IgM antibodies against S. Typhi proteins. RESULTS: In 300 malaria smear-negative febrile patients [median (IQR) age of 13.5 (5-31) years], 34 (11.3%) had confirmed typhoid fever: 19 positive by blood culture for S. Typhi (three blood PCR positive) and 15 blood culture negative but PCR positive for S. Typhi in blood. The respective sensitivity and specificity of the three RDTs in patients using a composite reference standard of blood culture and/or PCR-confirmed typhoid fever were 59% and 61% for LifeAssay, 59% and 74% for the CTK IgM and/or IgG, and 24% and 96% for the SD Bioline RDT IgM and/or IgG. The LifeAssay RDT had a sensitivity of 63% and a specificity of 91% when modified with a positive cut-off of ≥2+ and analysed using a Bayesian latent class model. CONCLUSIONS: These typhoid RDTs demonstrated moderate diagnostic accuracies, and better tests are needed.
