title: Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS) for clinical detection of influenza in children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Validated clinical scales, such as the Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS), have not been used to differentiate influenza (FLU) from other respiratory viruses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary analysis of a prospective cohort presenting to the emergency department (ED) with an influenza-like infection from 2008 to 2010. Subjects were children aged 0 to 19 years who had a venipuncture and respiratory virus polymerase chain reaction. Demographics and CARIFS items were assessed during the ED visit; comparisons were made between FLU and non-FLU subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 203 subjects had median age 30.5 months; 61.6% were male. Comorbid conditions (51.2%) were common. FLU was identified in 26.6%, and were older than non-FLU patients (69.7 vs 47.9 months, P = .02). Demographic, household factors, and mean CARIFS score did not differ between FLU (33.7), and non-FLU (32.0) (mean difference 1.6, 95% CI: -2.0 to 5.2) groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CARIFS cannot discriminate between FLU and non-FLU infection in ED children with influenza-like infection.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Jason B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology at University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Priya A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.affiliation: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Coffin
authors.affiliation: Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Alpern
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA rakesh.mistry@childrenscolorado.org.
authors.forename: Rakesh D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Mistry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D009975:Orthomyxoviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: clinical scores; emergency department; influenza