Sadeq et al reported patterns in the fluctuations of vital signs associated with sepsis in pediatric burn patients. The authors are from Shriners Hospitals for Children Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Icahn School of Medicine.
Patient selection: pediatric burn patient
Time frame: 24 hours after the collection of blood cultures
Patterns associated with sepsis:
(1) >= 2 spikes in heart rate
(2) combination of >= 1 dip in mean arterial pressure and >= 2 fever spikes
where:
• The text refers to ">=" for each vital sign but the legend for Table 4 uses ">".
• Fever spike = temperature above 39°C
• Heart rate spike = heart rates greater than 2 standard deviations above age-specific norms
• Mean arterial pressure dip = MAP below 60 mm Hg
Performance:
• The sensitivity was 0.93 and specificity of 0.81, with an accuracy of 87%.
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