Respiratory rate greater than 50 per minute as a clinical indicator of pneumonia in Filipino children with cough.
The diagnosis and epidemiology of acute respiratory tract infection (ARI) in 199 children less than 5 years old were investigated in Manila. As part of this study, children who were treated at one of two outpatient clinics for cough of less than 3 weeks' duration were studied to test the validity of the use of a respiratory rate (RR) of greater than 50/minute for identifying ARI of a severity necessitating treatment with antibiotics. In the first population, in which 69% of the children had radiologically confirmed pneumonia, the sensitivity of a RR of greater than 50/minute was 54%, the specificity was 84%, the false-positive rate was 16%, and the false-negative rate was 46%. In the second population, in which 29% of the children had pneumonia, the sensitivity and positive predictive values were low. The validity of a RR of greater than 50/minute may vary in populations with different prevalences of ARI.
Lucero
M G
MG
Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Department of Health, Manila, Philippines.
Tupasi
T E
TE
Gomez
M L
ML
Beltran
G L
GL
Crisostomo
A U
AU
Romano
V V
VV
Rivera
L M
LM
D002675:Child, Preschool; D003371:Cough / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010679:Philippines; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011859:Radiography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012119:Respiration