Gary Frank

Prediction of Lyme Meningitis in Children From a Lyme Disease–Endemic Region: A Logistic-Regression Model Using History, Physical, and Laboratory Findings

BACKGROUND. Differentiating Lyme meningitis (LM) from other forms of aseptic meningitis (AM) in children is a common diagnostic dilemma in Lyme disease–endemic regions. Prior studies have compared clinical characteristics of patients with LM versus patients with documented enteroviral infections. No large studies have compared patients with LM to all patients presenting with AM and attempted to define a clinical prediction model. OBJECTIVE. To create a statistical model to predict LM versus AM in children based on history, physical, and laboratory findings during the initial presentation of meningitis. METHODS. Children older than 2 years presenting to the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children between October 1999 and September 2004 were identified if both Lyme serology and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were collected during the same hospital encounter. Patients were considered to have Lyme disease only if they met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria (documented erythema migrans and/or positive Lyme serology). Patients were eligible for study inclusion if they had documented meningitis (CSF white blood cell count: >8 per mm3). Retrospective chart review abstracted duration of headache and cranial neuritis (papilledema or cranial nerve palsy) on physical examination and percent CSF mononuclear cells. Using logistic-regression analysis, the type of meningitis (LM versus AM) was simultaneously regressed on these 3 variables. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test was performed and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was calculated. RESULTS. A total of 175 children with meningitis were included in the final statistical model. Logistic-regression analysis included 27 patients with LM and 148 patients classified as having AM. Duration of headache, cranial neuritis, and percent CSF mononuclear cells independently predicted LM. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test revealed a good fit for the model, and the Nagelkerke R2 effect size demonstrated good predictive efficacy. Odds ratios based on the logistic-regression results were calculated for these variables. The final model was transformed into a clinical prediction model that allows practitioners to calculate the probability of a child having LM. CONCLUSIONS. Longer duration of headache, presence of cranial neuritis, and predominance of CSF mononuclear cells are predictive of LM in children presenting with meningitis in a Lyme disease–endemic region. The clinical prediction model can help guide the clinician about the need for parenteral antibiotics while awaiting serology results.

Diagnostic utility of Borrelia burgdorferi cerebrospinal fluid polymerase chain reaction in children with Lyme meningitis.

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) laboratory tests are frequently collected to help differentiate Lyme meningitis from other causes of aseptic meningitis. Previous studies using Lyme CSF polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have yielded varied results (sensitivity between 10 and 90%). No studies have specifically examined the diagnostic utility of Lyme CSF-PCR in North American children with Lyme meningitis. Methods: Retrospective chart review of children presenting to a childrens hospital in a Lyme-endemic region between October 1999 and September 2004. Patients were included if they had both Lyme serology and Lyme CSF-PCR performed during the same hospital encounter and had documented meningitis. Patients were considered to have Lyme meningitis if they had meningitis and met CDC criteria for Lyme disease. The Lyme CSF-PCR assay amplified a Borrelia burgdorferi DNA flagellin gene sequence. Results: Of 108 patients with meningitis who qualified for the study, 20 patients met criteria for Lyme meningitis and 88 were classified as aseptic meningitis. Positive Lyme CSF-PCR was found in 1 patient (1 of 20, 5%) with Lyme meningitis and one patient classified as aseptic meningitis (1 of 88, 1%). Lyme CSF-PCR had a sensitivity of 5% and a specificity of 99%. The only Lyme meningitis patient with positive Lyme CSF-PCR had the highest CSF white blood cell count and CSF protein values compared with the other Lyme meningitis patients. Conclusions: This is the first study to evaluate Lyme CSF-PCR exclusively in North American children. This commercially available laboratory test is not generally helpful for identifying Lyme meningitis because of its low sensitivity.

Physician practice variation in the pediatric emergency department and its impact on resource use and quality of care.

Objective: To evaluate variation in case-mix adjusted resource use among pediatric emergency department (ED) physicians and its correlation with ED length of stay (LOS) and return rates. Methods: Resource use patterns at 2 EDs for 36 academic physicians (163,669 patients at ED1) and 45 private physicians (289,199 patients at ED2) from 2003 to 2006 were abstracted for common laboratory tests, imaging studies, intravenous therapy (fluids/antibiotics), LOS and 72-hour return rate for discharged patients, and hospital admissions for all patients. Case-mix adjustment was based on triage acuity, diagnostic category, demographics, and temporal measures. Outcome measures: (1) adjusted overall resource use for ED1 and ED2 physicians and (2) observed-to-expected ratios for ED1 physicians. Results: Case-mix adjusted hospital admission rates among physicians varied nearly 3-fold (6.3%-18%) for ED1 and 8-fold (2.5%-19.4%) for ED2. Intravenous therapy use varied 2-fold (4.9%-10.4%) at ED1 and 3-fold (3.6%-11.4%) at ED2. Emergency department 2 physicians had an almost 2-fold (10.9%-20.6%) variation in imaging use. Variation in head computed tomography use was 2-fold (1.1%-2.5%) at ED1 and 5-fold (0.9%-4.8%) at ED2. Physicians had longer than expected LOS if they had higher than expected use of laboratory tests (r, 0.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.09-0.65; P < 0.05) and imaging (r, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.17-0.69; P < 0.01). Return rate was not significantly correlated with resource use in any category. Physicians with higher than expected use of laboratory tests had higher than expected use of imaging (r, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.36-0.78; P < 0.001), head computed tomography (r, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.19-0.70; P < 0.01), and intravenous therapy (r, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.20-0.71; P < 0.01). Conclusions: Significant variation exists in physician use of common ED resources. Higher resource use was associated with increased LOS but did not reduce return to ED. Practice variation such as this may represent an opportunity to improve health care quality and decrease costs.

Streptococcus bovis infection in young infants

Background: Sporadic cases of invasive Streptococcus bovis disease have been reported in young infants. However, little is known about the clinical manifestations or the conditions that predispose to S. bovis infection in this population. Objective: The objective of this case series and review of the literature was to describe cases of S. bovis infection treated at 2 childrens hospitals and compare patients evaluated at our institutions with those reported in the literature. Results: Seven infants with S. bovis infection were treated at our institutions; 4 of the patients had S. bovis meningitis and 3 of these also had S. bovis bacteremia. Five of the patients had signs of gastrointestinal disturbance at presentation. None of the 7 patients died. Twenty-three patients with S. bovis infection reported in the literature had meningitis with concurrent bacteremia (n = 9), bacteremia alone (n = 9), meningitis alone (n = 4), and pneumonia with overwhelming sepsis (n = 1). Six (26%) of the patients reported in the literature died as a consequence of S. bovis infection. The difference in median age between our patients (14 days; range, 1–43 days) and those reported in the literature (3 days; range, 1–60 days) was not statistically significant (P = 0.49). Abdominal distention was more commonly noted among patients in our series (71%) than among patients reported in the literature (10%; odds ratio = 21.3; 95% confidence interval = 1.7–319.0). Conclusions: Bacteremia and meningitis were the most common manifestations. Gastrointestinal disturbance was common among patients in our series. The mortality rate from S. bovis infection appears to be lower than suggested by previous reports.

Community Household Income and Resource Utilization for Common Inpatient Pediatric Conditions

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Child health is influenced by biomedical and socioeconomic factors. Few studies have explored the relationship between community-level income and inpatient resource utilization for children. Our objective was to analyze inpatient costs for children hospitalized with common conditions in relation to zip code-based median annual household income (HHI). METHODS: Retrospective national cohort from 32 freestanding children’s hospitals for asthma, diabetes, bronchiolitis and respiratory syncytial virus, pneumonia, and kidney and urinary tract infections. Standardized cost of care for individual hospitalizations and across hospitalizations for the same patient and condition were modeled by using mixed-effects methods, adjusting for severity of illness, age, gender, and race. Main exposure was median annual HHI. Posthoc tests compared adjusted standardized costs for patients from the lowest and highest income groups. RESULTS: From 116 636 hospitalizations, 4 of 5 conditions had differences at the hospitalization and at the patient level, with lowest-income groups having higher costs. The individual hospitalization level cost differences ranged from

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187 (4.1%) to

Why Are Young Infants Tested for Herpes Simplex Virus

404 (6.4%). Patient-level cost differences ranged from

Impact of Physician Scorecards on Emergency Department Resource Use, Quality, and Efficiency

310 to

Asthma care quality measures at children's hospitals and asthma-related outcomes

1087 or 6.5% to 15% higher for the lowest-income patients. Higher costs were typically not for laboratory, imaging, or pharmacy costs. In total, patients from lowest income zip codes had

Beyond interviewing: a 21st-century recruitment process for healthcare quality professionals.

8.4 million more in hospitalization-level costs and