A children's acute respiratory illness scale (CARIFS) predicted functional severity and family burden

How Does the Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale Relate to Other Scales in Pediatric Asthma Exacerbations?

Objectives: In children with asthma exacerbations, we evaluated the relationship between Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS) scores and (a) Asthma Diary Scale (ADS) scores for 14 days; (b) Pediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality of Life (QoL) Questionnaire (PACQLQ) scores on days 1, 7 and 14; (c) viral detection. We hypothesized that in children with acute asthma, CARIFS scores correlate with ADS and PACQLQ scores over time and that viruses have little impact on CARIFS scores.Methods: In children aged 2-16 years who presented with acute asthma to the Emergency Departments of 2 hospitals, we documented the clinical history, examination, asthma severity at baseline and on presentation. Eighteen respiratory pathogens were determined by PCR on nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) collected on recruitment. The parent(s) recorded their child's daily CARIFS and ADS and weekly PACQLQ for 14 days. We used Spearman's correlation to relate the scores of 108 children.Results: CARIFS scores correlated well with ADS scores throughout 14 days (r_s ranged 0.30-0.67). CARIFS and PACQLQ scores correlated -0.28, -0.14 and -0.44 on days 1, 7 and 14 respectively. There was no significant difference in CARIFS scores between children whose NPAs were PCR virus-positive or -negative over 14 days.Conclusions: CARIFS and ADS scores correlated well as a disease severity measure during the recovery period in children with acute asthma and this was not influenced by the virus state. The ADS may be used as an alternative in selected situations. The CARIFS reflects different aspects to acute asthma severity and QoL.

Parental severity assessment predicts supportive care in infant bronchiolitis

AIM

In infants with acute bronchiolitis, the precision of parental disease severity assessment is unclear. We aimed to determine if parental assessment at the time of hospitalisation predicted the use of supportive care, and subsequently determine the likelihood that the infant with acute bronchiolitis would receive supportive care.

METHODS

From the Bronchiolitis ALL south-east Norway study, we included all 267, 0-12 month old, infants with acute bronchiolitis whose parents at the time of hospitalisation completed a three-item visual analogue scale (VAS) concerning Activity, Feeding and Illness. Respiratory rate, oxygen saturation (SpO₂ ) and use of supportive care were recorded daily. By multivariate logistic regression analyses we included significant predictors available at hospital admission to predict the use of supportive care.

RESULTS

The parental Activity, Feeding and Illness VAS scores significantly predicted supportive care with odds ratios of 1.23, 1.26 and 1.36, respectively. The prediction algorithm included parental Feeding and Illness scores, SpO₂ , gender and age, with an area under the curve of 0.76 (95% CI 0.69, 0.81). A positive likelihood ratio of 2.1 gave the highest combined sensitivity of 81% and specificity of 61%.

CONCLUSION

Parental assessment at hospital admission moderately predicted supportive care treatment in infants with acute bronchiolitis.

Oral Astragalus (Huang qi) for preventing frequent episodes of acute respiratory tract infection in children

BACKGROUND

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) are common in children and can involve both upper and lower airways. Many children experience frequent ARTI episodes or recurrent respiratory tract infections (RRTIs) in early life, which creates challenges for paediatricians, primary care physicians, parents and carers of children.In China, Astragalus (Huang qi), alone or in combination with other herbs, is used by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners in the form of a water extract, to reduce the risk of ARTIs; it is believed to stimulate the immune system. Better understanding of the therapeutic mechanisms of Astragalus may provide insights into ARTI prevention, and consequently reduced antibiotic use.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effectiveness and safety of oral Astragalus for preventing frequent episodes of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in children in community settings.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, Issue 12, 2015), MEDLINE (Ovid) (1946 to 31 December 2015), Embase (Elsevier) (1974 to 31 December 2015), AMED (Ovid) (1985 to 31 December 2015), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) (1979 to 31 December 2015) and Chinese Scientific Journals full text database (CQVIP) (1989 to 31 December 2015), China Biology Medicine disc (CBM 1976 to 31 December 2015) and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform (WanFang) (1998 to 31 December 2015).

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing oral Astragalus as a sole Chinese herbal preparation with placebo to prevent frequent episodes of ARTIs in children.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We used standard Cochrane methodological procedures for this review. We assessed search results to identify relevant studies. We planned to extract data using standardised forms. Disagreements were to be resolved through discussion. Risk of bias was to be assessed using the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool. We planned to use mean difference (MD) or standardised mean difference (SMD) for continuous data and risk ratio (RR) or odds ratio (OR) to analyse dichotomous data, both with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

MAIN RESULTS

We identified 6080 records: 3352 from English language databases, 2724 from Chinese databases, and four from other sources. Following initial screening and deduplication, we obtained 120 full-text papers for assessment. Of these, 21 were not RCTs; 55 did not meet the inclusion criteria because: participants were aged over 14 years; definition was not included for recurrent or frequent episodes;Astragalus preparation was not an intervention; Astragalus preparation was in the formula but was not the sole agent; the Astragalus preparation was not administered orally; or Astragalus was used for treatment rather than prevention of ARTI. A further 44 studies were excluded because they were not placebo-controlled, although other inclusion criteria were fulfilled.No RCTs met our inclusion criteria.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

We found insufficient evidence to enable assessment of the effectiveness and safety of oral Astragalus as a sole intervention to prevent frequent ARTIs in children aged up to 14 years.

Feasibility of a birth cohort study dedicated to assessing acute infections using symptom diaries and parental collection of biomaterials

Background

A birth cohort dedicated to studying infections in early childhood may be assisted by parental recording of symptoms on a daily basis and a collection of biomaterials. We aimed at testing the feasibility of this approach for use in a long-term study focusing on infections in children in Germany.

Methods

Parents of 1- to 3-year-old children (n = 75) were recruited in nursery schools. They were asked to complete a symptom diary on a daily basis and to take monthly and symptom-triggered nasal swabs and stool samples from their child over the study period of three months. Feasibility was measured by means of the return proportions of symptom diaries and bio samples; acceptance was assessed by a questionnaire delivered to participants at the end of the study.

Results

The majority of the participants filled in the symptom diary during the three months study for 75 or more days (77.3 %), and provided the monthly nasal swabs (62.7 %) and stool samples (65.3 %). The time needed for the tasks was acceptable for most participants (symptom diary: 92.3 %, nasal swabs: 98.5 %, stool samples: 100.0 %). In 64.3 % of the symptom-triggered nasal swabs, respiratory viruses were found compared to 55.5 % in throat swabs taken by health-care professionals within the “ARE surveillance Lower Saxony”, a special project by the Governmental Institute of Public Health of Lower Saxony to investigate causal pathogens for acute respiratory infections in children.

Conclusions

The parental assessment of symptoms and collection of biomaterials in a birth cohort dedicated to studying infections appears feasible in a middle class German population. The success of the study will depend on the ability to maintain these activities over a long time period.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-015-1189-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cross cultural translation, adaptation and reliability of the Malay version of the Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS)

Background

The Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS) is a parent-proxy questionnaire that assesses severity of acute respiratory infections in children. The aim was to (a) perform a cross-cultural adaptation and (b) prove that the Malay CARIFS is a reliable tool.

Findings

The CARIFS underwent forward and backward translations as recommended by international guidelines. A pilot study was performed on the harmonised version and the final version of the Malay version of CARIFS was produced. A test-retest, 1 h apart, was then performed on parents with children less than 13 years old, admitted with a respiratory tract infection. Parents of children with asthma and who were not eloquent in Malay, were excluded. The data was analysed for consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and reliability (test-retest co-efficient). Thirty-three parents were recruited. Children were aged median (IQR) 6 (2.8, 13.3) months with a male: female ratio of 22:11 and 88 % were Malays. Parents were interviewed at median (IQR) 6 (3, 11.5) days of admission. The Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.70 for all items. The test–retest reliability analysis had a minimum and maximum intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.63 and 0.97 respectively. Clinically, the longer patients were admitted, the lower the severity score (r = −0.35, p < 0.05), indicating that they were getting better.

Conclusion

The Malay version of CARIFS is a valid and reliable tool to determine severity of respiratory illness in children. Parent-centred questionnaires are useful and should be an adjunct to other methods, in monitoring response to treatment.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12955-015-0336-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS) for clinical detection of influenza in children

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.

Can patients or clinicians predict the severity or duration of an acute upper respiratory infection?

PURPOSE

Acute upper respiratory infections (URI) are the second most common diagnosis in primary care offices. As treatments have limited effectiveness, patient counseling regarding expectations for the course of the URI is an important aspect of care. It is unknown how accurate patients, clinicians or questionnaires such as the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS) instrument are at predicting URI severity and duration, and whether these predictions should be used to counsel patients.

METHODS

Seven hundred and nineteen individuals with recent onset cold in community clinic settings participated. Participants and clinicians predicted the severity and duration of the URI and participants completed the WURSS instrument at initial visit. Subsequent URI global severity was calculated as area under the curve using an average of twice-daily WURSS-21 self-reports as the y-axis and illness duration as the x-axis. URI duration was determined by self-report of beginning and end of illness. Linear regression analysis was used to correlate baseline predictions with subsequent outcomes. Analyses by gender, age and income were also performed.

RESULTS

There was no significant association between participant and clinician predictions of severity or duration. Initial WURSS values explained 0.119 (95% CI: 0.074-0.163) of the variance in subsequent severity outcomes. There were no significant differences in associations by age, gender or income.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinicians should not use their predictive assessments or their patients' predictions when advising patients on the expected course of a URI. This study also suggests that the WURSS instrument could give some predictive information, but whether this is clinically useful is uncertain.

E-mail-based symptomatic surveillance combined with self-collection of nasal swabs: a new tool for acute respiratory infection epidemiology

Objective

We examined the feasibility of combining communication by e-mail and self-collection of nasal swabs for the prospective detection of acute respiratory infections in a non-medical setting.

Methods

The study was conducted among a convenience sample of employees (n = 53) at a research institution (December 2009–April 2010). Real-time data on the occurrence of acute respiratory symptoms and a nasal self-swab were collected prospectively, with automated weekly e-mails as a reminder mechanism. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect respiratory viral pathogens in the swabs.

Results

Fifty-one out of 53 participants completed the study. The study design was well accepted. Thirty (∼57%) participants reported at least one episode of acute respiratory infection and returned the nasal swab during the study period (eight participants reported two episodes). The majority had no difficulties taking the self-swab and preferred this to swabbing by study personnel. Most participants obtained and returned the swabs within the recommended time. Viral respiratory pathogens were detected in 19 of 38 swabs (50%), with coronaviruses 229E/NL63 and OC43 and rhinoviruses A and B constituting 17 positive swabs (89%).

Conclusions

Combining e-mail-based symptomatic surveillance with nasal self-swabbing promises to be a powerful tool for the real-time identification of incident cases of acute respiratory infections and the associated pathogens in population-based studies.

Development and validation of the Influenza Intensity and Impact Questionnaire (FluiiQ™)

OBJECTIVE

Clinical trials of new agents to reduce the severity and impact of influenza require accurate assessment of the effect of influenza infection. Because there are limited high-quality adult influenza Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) measures, the aim was to develop and validate a simple but comprehensive questionnaire for epidemiological research and clinical trials.

METHODS

Construct and item generation was guided by the literature, concept mapping, focus groups, and interviews with individuals with laboratory-confirmed influenza and expert physicians. Items were administered to 311 people with influenza-like illness (ILI) across 25 US sites. Analyses included classic psychometrics, structural equation modeling (SEM), and Rasch analyses.

RESULTS

Concept mapping generated 149 concepts covering the influenza experience and clustered into symptoms and impact on daily activities, emotions, and others. Items were drafted using simplicity and brevity criteria. Eleven symptoms from the literature underwent review by physicians and patients, and two were removed and one added. The symptoms domain factored into systemic and respiratory symptoms, whereas the impact domains were unidimensional. All domains displayed good internal consistency (Cronbach α ≥ 0.8) except the three-item respiratory domain (α = 0.48). A five-factor SEM indicated excellent fit where systemic, respiratory, and daily activities domains differentiated patients with ILI or confirmed influenza. All scales were responsive over time.

CONCLUSIONS

Patient and clinician consultations resulted in an influenza PRO measure with high validity and good overall evidence of reliability and responsiveness. The Influenza Intensity and Impact Questionnaire (FluiiQ™) will improve the evaluation of existing and future agents designed to prevent or control influenza infection by increasing the breadth and depth of measurement in this field.

Infants' symptoms of illness assessed by parents: impact and implications

OBJECTIVES. Some parents with a sick infant contact a doctor, while others do not. The reasons underlying such parental decisions have not been thoroughly studied. The purpose of this study was to explore how the actual symptoms in the infant were associated with parent-rated illness, illness severity, and the probability of the parents contacting a doctor. DESIGN. A retrospective questionnaire and a prospective diary study covering 14 months of the participating infants' lives. SETTING AND SUBJECTS. The 194 participating infants were followed for three months prospectively from the age of 11 to 14 months using diary cards, and retrospectively from birth until the age of 11 months by a questionnaire. RESULTS. During the three months of the diary card prospective follow-up, the infants had symptoms on average every second day, and the vast majority (92%) had 10 or more days with at least one symptom; 38% of the infants were reported to have had five or more symptoms for more than five days. Fever, earache, and vomiting were the symptoms most likely to cause parents to rate their infant as ill. Earache was the symptom that triggered doctor contact most immediately. The parent-rated illness severity was strongly related to the tendency to contact a doctor. However, this association was markedly weaker when adjustment was made for the infant not eating normally, having a cough, or running a fever. CONCLUSION. Specific symptoms such as fever, earache, and vomiting were strongly associated with the probability of parents rating the infant as ill. An earache would cause the parents to contact a doctor. Fever and vomiting were other symptoms triggering doctor contacts. First, these symptoms could cause the parents to want a doctor's expert evaluation of the infant's illness; second, the parents could expect medication to be necessary; or third, it could just be difficult for the parents to handle the ill infant.

Asthma and protracted bronchitis: who fares better during an acute respiratory infection?

AIM

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are common in children, and symptoms range from days to weeks. The aim of this study was to determine if children with asthma have more severe ARI episodes compared with children with protracted bronchitis and controls.

METHODS

Parents prospectively scored their child's next ARI using the Canadian acute respiratory illness and flu scale (CARIFS) and a validated cough diary (on days 1-7, 10 and 14 of illness). Children were age- and season-matched.

RESULTS

On days 10 and 14 of illness, children with protracted bronchitis had significantly higher median CARIFS when compared with children with asthma and healthy controls. On day 14, the median CARIFS were: asthma = 4.1 (interquartile range (IQR) 4.0), protracted bronchitis = 19.6 (IQR 25.8) and controls = 4.1 (IQR 5.25). The median cough score was significantly different between groups on days 1, 7, 10 and 14 (P < 0.001). A significantly higher proportion of children with protracted bronchitis (63%) were still coughing at day 14 in comparison with children with asthma (24%) and healthy controls (26%).

CONCLUSION

Children with protracted bronchitis had the most severe ARI symptoms and higher percentage of respiratory morbidity at day 14 in comparison with children with asthma and healthy controls.

Validity of the common cold questionnaire (CCQ) in asthma exacerbations

Background

The common cold questionnaire (CCQ) is used to discriminate those with and without a viral infection. Its usefulness in people with acute asthma is unknown. Our aim was to assess the ability of the CCQ to detect viral infection and to monitor recovery during a viral induced asthma exacerbation and confirmed by virological testing.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We studied subjects (≥7 yrs) admitted to hospital with acute asthma and diagnosed as positive (n = 63), or negative to viral infection (n = 27) according to molecular and virological testing from respiratory samples. CCQ, asthma history and asthma control questionnaires were completed and repeated 4–6 weeks later. Sensitivity, specificity, and response to change of the CCQ were assessed by receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis and effect size calculation respectively. The CCQ did not discriminate between viral and non-viral infection for subjects with asthma (sensitivity = 76.2%; specificity = 29.6%). ROC analysis could not differentiate between positive or negative virus in subjects with asthma. The CCQ had a large response to change following recovery (effect size = 1.01). 39% of subjects recovering from viral exacerbation remained positive to virological testing at follow-up despite improvement in clinical symptoms. The CCQ reflected clinical improvement in these subjects, thus providing additional information to complement virological testing.

Conclusions/Significance

The CCQ is a useful instrument for monitoring response to viral infection in people with asthma. Reliable differentiation between viral and non-viral asthma exacerbations was not achieved with the CCQ and requires specific virological testing. When combined with virological testing, the CCQ should be a useful outcome measure for evaluating therapies in viral-induced asthma.

Respiratory infections for which general practitioners consider prescribing an antibiotic: a prospective study

OBJECTIVE

To determine the viral aetiology of respiratory infections in children presenting to primary care with "more than a simple cold".

DESIGN

Observational study in 18 Oxfordshire general practices over four winters (2000-01 to 2003-04).

PATIENTS

425 children aged 6 months to 12 years with cough and fever for whom general practitioners considered prescribing an antibiotic.

METHODS

Nasopharyngeal aspirate obtained from 408 (96%) children was subjected to PCR for respiratory viruses. Parents completed an illness diary for the duration of illness.

RESULTS

A viral cause of infection was detected in most (77%) children. Clinical symptoms correctly identified the infecting virus in 45% of cases. The duration of illness was short and the time course was very similar for all infecting viruses. One third of children were prescribed an antibiotic (34%), but this made no difference to the rate of parent-assessed recovery (Kruskal-Wallis, p = 0.67). About one in five children with influenza who did not receive an antibiotic had persistent fever on day 7 compared to no children receiving antibiotics (p = 0.02); this difference remained after adjustment for severity and other factors and was not seen with other viruses.

CONCLUSIONS

Most children receiving antibiotics for respiratory symptoms in general practice have an identifiable viral illness. In routine clinical practice, neither the specific infecting virus nor the use of antibiotics has a significant effect on the time course of illness. Antibiotics may reduce the duration of fever in children with influenza which could reflect an increased risk of secondary bacterial infection for such children.