Alarming signs and symptoms in febrile children in primary care: an observational cohort study in The Netherlands.

ABSTRACT:

Context

Febrile children in primary care have a low risk for serious infection. Although several alarming signs and symptoms are proposed to have predictive value for serious infections, most are based on research in secondary care. The frequency of alarming signs/symptoms has not been established in primary care; however, in this setting differences in occurrence may influence their predictive value for serious infections.

Objective

To determine the frequency of alarming signs/symptoms in febrile children in primary care.

Design

Observational cohort study. Clinical information was registered in a semi-structured way and manually recoded.

Setting

General practitioners' out-of-hours service.

Subjects

Face-to-face patient contacts concerning children (aged

SUBMITTER: Elshout G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3929539 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature