Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23613571›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2013

Centor criteria in children in a paediatric emergency department: for what it is worth.

Inge Roggen, Gerlant van Berlaer, Frans Gordts, Denis Pierard, Ives Hubloue

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. The use of rapid test QuikRead go® Strep A in bacterial pharyngotonsillitis diagnosing and therapeutic decisions.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2017
    Article
  10. [Diagnosing streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis in children and adolescents: the limitations of the clinical features].Revista paulista de pediatria : orgao oficial da Sociedade de Pediatria de Sao Paulo · 2014
    Article
  11. Controversies in the management of acute tonsillitis: an evidence-based review.Clinical otolaryngology : official journal of ENT-UK ; official journal of Netherlands Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology & Cervico-Facial Surgery · 2014
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Inge RoggenDepartment of Emergency Medicine, UZ Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Jette, Belgium.
Gerlant van Berlaer
Frans Gordts
Denis Pierard
Ives Hubloue

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionCentor criteria (fever >38.5°C, swollen, tender anterior cervical lymph nodes, tonsillar exudate and absence of cough) are an algorithm to assess the probability of group A β haemolytic Streptococcus (GABHS) as the origin of sore throat, developed for adults. We wanted to evaluate the correlation between Centor criteria and presence of GABHS in children with sore throat admitted to our paediatric emergency department (PED).

designRetrospective cohort study.

settingThe emergency department of a large tertiary university hospital in Brussels, with over 20 000 yearly visits for children below age 16.

participantsAll medical records (from 2008 to 2010) of children between ages 2 and 16, who were diagnosed with pharyngitis, tonsillitis or sore throat and having a throat swab culture for GABHS. Children with underlying chronic respiratory, cardiac, haematological or immunological diseases and children who had already received antibiotics (AB) prior to the PED consult were excluded. Only records with a full disease history were selected. Out of a total 2118 visits for sore throats, 441 met our criteria. The children were divided into two age groups, 2-5 and 5-16 years.

resultsThe prevalence of GABHS was higher in the older children compared to the preschoolers (38.7 vs 27.6; p=0.01), and the overall prevalence was 32%. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of GABHS for all different Centor scores within an age group. Likelihood ratios (LR) demonstrate that none of the individual symptoms or a Centor score of ≥3 seems to be effective in ruling in or ruling out GABHS. Pooled LR (CI) for Centor ≥3 was 0.67 (CI 0.50 to 0.90) for the preschoolers and 1.37 (CI 1.04 to 1.79) for the older children.

conclusionsOur results confirm the ineffectiveness of Centor criteria as a predicting factor for finding GABHS in a throat swab culture in children.

Identifiers

PMID23613571
PMCPMC3641432

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.