ArticleArchives of disease in childhood2026
Diagnostic accuracy of the index finger vein inspection ('Zhiwen') for assessing paediatric pneumonia severity.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the diagnostic accuracy and inter-rater reliability of the traditional index finger vein inspection ('Zhiwen') for assessing pneumonia severity in children.
designCross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study adhering to Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2015 guidelines.
settingA tertiary paediatric referral hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. PATIENTS: 406 children aged ≤3 years with clinically diagnosed pneumonia were enrolled between March and May 2024.
interventionsParticipants underwent independent, blinded assessment by a paediatrician (reference standard: WHO pneumonia classification) and traditional medicine practitioners (index test: 'Zhiwen' inspection). Veins were classified into 'Wind', 'Qi' or 'Life' bars based on distal extension.
main outcome measuresDiagnostic accuracy metrics (sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, likelihood ratios) and inter-rater reliability (Cohen's kappa (κ)).
resultsInter-rater reliability was excellent (κ=0.91; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.94). A significant graded association was observed between vein extension and pneumonia severity (p<0.001). The 'Life bar' extension was strongly associated with very severe pneumonia, demonstrating a sensitivity of 95.2% (95% CI 76.2% to 99.9%) and specificity of 96.4% (95% CI 94.0% to 98.0%). Crucially, the absence of the 'Life bar' yielded a negative predictive value (NPV) of 99.7%, effectively ruling out critical illness.
conclusionThe traditional 'Zhiwen' inspection is a reproducible and valid physical biomarker for pneumonia severity. Its high NPV suggests its potential as a rapid, no-cost adjunctive tool for risk stratification in children with established pneumonia in resource-constrained settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.