Clinical features and inflammatory markers in pediatric pneumonia: a prospective study

Conclusion: With relatively high specificity and likelihood ratio CRP, WBC count and hypoxemia may be beneficial in ruling in a positive chest radiograph in suspected pneumonia and bacterial etiology in proven pneumonia, but with low sensitivity, the clinical utility is limited.What is Known:•Pneumonia is recommended to be a clinical diagnosis, and neither clinical features nor inflammatory markers can reliably distinguish etiology.•The etiology of pneumonia has changed after routine pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.What is New:•High CRP and WBC counts were associated with infiltrates in children with suspected pneumonia and with bacterial infection in proven pneumonia.•In the post-pneumococcal vaccination era, viral etiology is expected, and in cases of pneumonia with low CRP and WBC counts, a watch-and-wait strategy for antibiotic treatment may be applied.
Source: European Journal of Pediatrics - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: research