ArticleBMC pediatrics2022
Pyrexia in a young infant - is height of fever associated with serious bacterial infection?
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diurnal variations of fever in children: results from an app-based observational study.BMC pediatrics · 2026Observational
- Singapore Housing Index and prevalence of serious bacterial infections among febrile infants.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Factors Related to Febrile Seizures Among Children at Abdul Moeloek Regional Hospital in Lampung Province.The Malaysian journal of medical sciences : MJMS · 2025Article
- Severe and invasive bacterial infections in infants aged less than 90 days with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Adding heart rate n-variability (HRnV) to clinical assessment potentially improves prediction of serious bacterial infections in young febrile infants at the emergency department: a prospective observational study.Annals of translational medicine · 2023Article
- Correction: Pyrexia in a young infant - is height of fever associated with serious bacterial infection?BMC pediatrics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFebrile infants ≤ 90 days old make up a significant proportion of patients seeking care in the emergency department (ED). These infants are vulnerable to serious bacterial infections (SBIs) and early identification is required to initiate timely investigations and interventions. We aimed to study if height of an infant's temperature on presentation to the ED is associated with SBI.
methodsWe performed a retrospective chart review on febrile infants ≤ 90 days old presenting to our ED between 31
resultsAmong 1057 febrile infants analysed, 207 (19.6%) had a SBI. Mean temperature of infants with a SBI was significantly higher than those without (mean 38.5 °C, standard deviation, SD 0.6 vs. 38.3 °C, SD 0.5, p < 0.005). For temperature ≥ 39 °C, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for SBI was 15.5% (95%CI 10.8-21.1%), 90.4% (95%CI 88.2-92.3%), 28.1% (95%CI 21.1-36.3%) and 81.4% (95%CI 80.5-82.4%) respectively. The height of fever was consistently associated with SBI after adjusting for age, gender and SIS (aOR 1.76, 95% CI 1.32-2.33, p < 0.001). However, 32 (15.5%) infants with SBIs had an initial triage temperature ≤ 38 °C.
conclusionsA higher temperature at triage was associated with a higher risk of SBI among febrile infants ≤ 90 days old. However, height of temperature must be used in conjunction with other risk factors to identify SBIs in young infants.
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