Search

In this retrospective analysis, we describe weekly croup and corresponding viral prevalence patterns in a pediatric quaternary care system in metropolitan Atlanta. We characterize a series of 24 patients with croup associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and show that this clinical presentation increased substantially in frequency during the period of high Omicron vs Delta transmission.

Background Easy identification of immunocompromised hosts (ICHs) would allow for stratification of culture results based on host type. Methods We utilized antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) team notes written during handshake stewardship rounds in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) as the gold standard for host status; clinical notes from the primary team, medication orders during the encounter, problem list, and billing diagnoses documented prior to the ASP documentation were extracted to develop models that predict host status. We calculated performance for three models based on diagnoses/medications, with and without natural language processing from clinical notes. The susceptibility of pathogens causing bacteremia to commonly used empiric antibiotic regimens was then stratified by host status. Results We identified 844 antimicrobial episodes from 666 unique patients; 160 (18.9%) were identified as ICHs. We randomly selected 675 initiations (80%) for model training and 169 initiations (20%) for testing. A rule-based model using diagnoses and medications alone yielded a sensitivity of 0.87 (08.6–0.88), specificity of 0.93 (0.92–0.93), and positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.74 (0.73–0.75). Adding clinical notes into XGBoost model led to improved specificity of 0.98 (0.98–0.98) and PPV of 0.9 (0.88–0.91), but with decreased sensitivity 0.77 (0.76–0.79). There were 77 bacteremia episodes during the study period identified and a host-specific visualization was created. Conclusions An electronic health record–based phenotype based on notes, diagnoses, and medications identifies ICH in the PICU with high specificity.

Context.— Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 in symptomatic and asymptomatic children remains integral to care, particularly for supporting return to and attendance in schools. The concordance of SARS-CoV-2 detection in children, using various specimen types, has not been widely studied. Objective.— To compare 3 sample types for SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in children, collected and tested at a single facility. Design.— We prospectively recruited 142 symptomatic and asymptomatic children/young adults into a sample comparison study performed in a single health care system. Each child provided self-collected saliva, and a trained health care provider collected a mid-turbinate nasal swab and nasopharyngeal (NP) swab. Specimens were assayed within 24 hours of collection by using reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect SARS-CoV-2 on a single testing platform. Results.— Concurrently collected saliva and mid-turbinate swabs had greater than 95% positive agreement with NP swabs when obtained within 10 days of symptom onset. Positive agreement of saliva and mid-turbinate samples collected from children with symptom onset >10 days prior, or without symptoms, was 82% compared to NP swab samples. Cycle threshold (Ct) values for mid-turbinate nasal samples more closely correlated with Ct values from NP samples than from saliva samples. Conclusions.— These findings suggest that all 3 sample types from children are useful for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing by RT-PCR, and that concordance is greatest when the child has had symptoms of COVID-19 within the past 10 days. This study provides scientific justification for using sample types other than the NP swab for SARS-CoV-2 testing in pediatric populations.