Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39661529›Full record

ArticleDiagnosis (Berlin, Germany)2025

Harbingers of sepsis misdiagnosis among pediatric emergency department patients.

Jonathan G Sawicki, Jessica Graham, Gitte Larsen, Jennifer K Workman

Abstract read
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Article in Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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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.

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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

4 authors.

Jonathan G SawickiDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4866-7034
Jessica GrahamDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Gitte LarsenDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Jennifer K WorkmanDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo identify clinical presentations that acted as harbingers for future sepsis hospitalizations in pediatric patients evaluated in the emergency department (ED) using the Symptom Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error (SPADE) methodology.

methodsWe identified patients in the Pediatric Health Information Systems (PHIS) database admitted for sepsis between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2023 and limited the study cohort to those patients who had an ED treat-and-release visit in the 30 days prior to admission. Using the look-back approach of the SPADE methodology, we identified the most common clinical presentations at the initial ED visit and used an observed to expected (O:E) analysis to determine which presentations were overrepresented. We then employed a graphical, temporal analysis with a comparison group to identify which overrepresented presentations most likely represented harbingers for future sepsis hospitalization.

resultsWe identified 184,157 inpatient admissions for sepsis, of which 15,331 hospitalizations (8.3 %) were preceded by a treat-and-release ED visit in the prior 30 days. Based on the O:E and temporal analyses, the presentations of fever and dehydration were both overrepresented in the study cohort and temporally clustered close to sepsis hospitalization. ED treat-and-release visits for fever or dehydration preceded 1.2 % of all sepsis admissions.

conclusionsIn pediatric patients presenting to the ED, fever and dehydration may represent harbingers for future sepsis hospitalization. The SPADE methodology could be applied to the PHIS database to develop diagnostic performance measures across a wide range of pediatric hospitals.

Indexed as

Diagnostic ErrorsEmergency Service, HospitalSepsisAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolDatabases, FactualDehydrationFemaleFeverHospitalizationHumansInfantMalediagnostic errormisdiagnosis related harmspediatricssepsis

Identifiers

PMID39661529

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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.