title: Clinicoepidemiological scoring system for early diagnosis of pediatric HIV.
abstract: This pilot study was aimed at testing the feasibility of using a standardized questionnaire as a screening tool for detection of pediatric HIV at first contact. A prospective study was carried out on a cohort of 400 new patients attending the pediatric outdoor patient department in Medical College, Kolkata. After examining, the attending physician noted his clinical impression, filled the standardized questionnaire and scored each patient. ELISA test was performed. The results of the diagnostic tests were correlated with the clinical impression and the score. Taking a score of 9 as the cut-off, the sensitivity and specificity of the scoring system was 95.7% and 98.6% respectively. We conclude that this clinicoepidemiological scoring system may be used to screen children for HIV in resource-limited settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics (Medicine), Calcutta Medical College, 88, College Street, Kolkata 700 072, West Bengal, India. anuja.bandyopadhyay@gmail.com
authors.forename: Anuja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bandyopadhyay
authors.forename: Subhasish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattacharyya
authors.forename: Ambar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banerjee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires