1
|
Leonard JC, Harding M, Cook LJ, Leonard JR, Adelgais KM, Ahmad FA, Browne LR, Burger RK, Chaudhari PP, Corwin DJ, Glomb NW, Lee LK, Owusu-Ansah S, Riney LC, Rogers AJ, Rubalcava DM, Sapien RE, Szadkowski MA, Tzimenatos L, Ward CE, Yen K, Kuppermann N. PECARN prediction rule for cervical spine imaging of children presenting to the emergency department with blunt trauma: a multicentre prospective observational study. THE LANCET. CHILD & ADOLESCENT HEALTH 2024; 8:482-490. [PMID: 38843852 PMCID: PMC11261431 DOI: 10.1016/s2352-4642(24)00104-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cervical spine injuries in children are uncommon but potentially devastating; however, indiscriminate neck imaging after trauma unnecessarily exposes children to ionising radiation. The aim of this study was to derive and validate a paediatric clinical prediction rule that can be incorporated into an algorithm to guide radiographic screening for cervical spine injury among children in the emergency department. METHODS In this prospective observational cohort study, we screened children aged 0-17 years presenting with known or suspected blunt trauma at 18 specialised children's emergency departments in hospitals in the USA affiliated with the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). Injured children were eligible for enrolment into derivation or validation cohorts by fulfilling one of the following criteria: transported from the scene of injury to the emergency department by emergency medical services; evaluated by a trauma team; and undergone neck imaging for concern for cervical spine injury either at or before arriving at the PECARN-affiliated emergency department. Children presenting with solely penetrating trauma were excluded. Before viewing an enrolled child's neck imaging results, the attending emergency department clinician completed a clinical examination and prospectively documented cervical spine injury risk factors in an electronic questionnaire. Cervical spine injuries were determined by imaging reports and telephone follow-up with guardians within 21-28 days of the emergency room encounter, and cervical spine injury was confirmed by a paediatric neurosurgeon. Factors associated with a high risk of cervical spine injury (>10%) were identified by bivariable Poisson regression with robust error estimates, and factors associated with non-negligible risk were identified by classification and regression tree (CART) analysis. Variables were combined in the cervical spine injury prediction rule. The primary outcome of interest was cervical spine injury within 28 days of initial trauma warranting inpatient observation or surgical intervention. Rule performance measures were calculated for both derivation and validation cohorts. A clinical care algorithm for determining which risk factors warrant radiographic screening for cervical spine injury after blunt trauma was applied to the study population to estimate the potential effect on reducing CT and x-ray use in the paediatric emergency department. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05049330. FINDINGS Nine emergency departments participated in the derivation cohort, and nine participated in the validation cohort. In total, 22 430 children presenting with known or suspected blunt trauma were enrolled (11 857 children in the derivation cohort; 10 573 in the validation cohort). 433 (1·9%) of the total population had confirmed cervical spine injuries. The following factors were associated with a high risk of cervical spine injury: altered mental status (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score of 3-8 or unresponsive on the Alert, Verbal, Pain, Unresponsive scale [AVPU] of consciousness); abnormal airway, breathing, or circulation findings; and focal neurological deficits including paresthesia, numbness, or weakness. Of 928 in the derivation cohort presenting with at least one of these risk factors, 118 (12·7%) had cervical spine injury (risk ratio 8·9 [95% CI 7·1-11·2]). The following factors were associated with non-negligible risk of cervical spine injury by CART analysis: neck pain; altered mental status (GCS score of 9-14; verbal or pain on the AVPU; or other signs of altered mental status); substantial head injury; substantial torso injury; and midline neck tenderness. The high-risk and CART-derived factors combined and applied to the validation cohort performed with 94·3% (95% CI 90·7-97·9) sensitivity, 60·4% (59·4-61·3) specificity, and 99·9% (99·8-100·0) negative predictive value. Had the algorithm been applied to all participants to guide the use of imaging, we estimated the number of children having CT might have decreased from 3856 (17·2%) to 1549 (6·9%) of 22 430 children without increasing the number of children getting plain x-rays. INTERPRETATION Incorporated into a clinical algorithm, the cervical spine injury prediction rule showed strong potential for aiding clinicians in determining which children arriving in the emergency department after blunt trauma should undergo radiographic neck imaging for potential cervical spine injury. Implementation of the clinical algorithm could decrease use of unnecessary radiographic testing in the emergency department and eliminate high-risk radiation exposure. Future work should validate the prediction rule and care algorithm in more general settings such as community emergency departments. FUNDING The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Maternal and Child Health Bureau under the Emergency Medical Services for Children programme.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julie C Leonard
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
| | - Monica Harding
- Division of Pediatric Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Lawrence J Cook
- Division of Pediatric Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Jeffrey R Leonard
- Department of Neurosurgery, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Kathleen M Adelgais
- Section of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Colorado Children's Hospital, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Fahd A Ahmad
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis Children's Hospital, St Louis, MO, USA
| | - Lorin R Browne
- Department of Pediatrics and Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Children's Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Rebecca K Burger
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Pradip P Chaudhari
- Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Daniel J Corwin
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Nicolaus W Glomb
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of California, Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Lois K Lee
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sylvia Owusu-Ansah
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Lauren C Riney
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Alexander J Rogers
- Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, CS Mott Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Daniel M Rubalcava
- Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Robert E Sapien
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Matthew A Szadkowski
- Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Primary Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Leah Tzimenatos
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Caleb E Ward
- Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Kenneth Yen
- Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Health Dallas, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Nathan Kuppermann
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Leonard JC, Browne LR, Ahmad FA, Schwartz H, Wallendorf M, Leonard JR, Lerner EB, Kuppermann N. Cervical Spine Injury Risk Factors in Children With Blunt Trauma. Pediatrics 2019; 144:peds.2018-3221. [PMID: 31221898 PMCID: PMC6615532 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2018-3221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/15/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Adult prediction rules for cervical spine injury (CSI) exist; however, pediatric rules do not. Our objectives were to determine test accuracies of retrospectively identified CSI risk factors in a prospective pediatric cohort and compare them to a de novo risk model. METHODS We conducted a 4-center, prospective observational study of children 0 to 17 years old who experienced blunt trauma and underwent emergency medical services scene response, trauma evaluation, and/or cervical imaging. Emergency department providers recorded CSI risk factors. CSIs were classified by reviewing imaging, consultations, and/or telephone follow-up. We calculated bivariable relative risks, multivariable odds ratios, and test characteristics for the retrospective risk model and a de novo model. RESULTS Of 4091 enrolled children, 74 (1.8%) had CSIs. Fourteen factors had bivariable associations with CSIs: diving, axial load, clotheslining, loss of consciousness, neck pain, inability to move neck, altered mental status, signs of basilar skull fracture, torso injury, thoracic injury, intubation, respiratory distress, decreased oxygen saturation, and neurologic deficits. The retrospective model (high-risk motor vehicle crash, diving, predisposing condition, neck pain, decreased neck mobility (report or exam), altered mental status, neurologic deficits, or torso injury) was 90.5% (95% confidence interval: 83.9%-97.2%) sensitive and 45.6% (44.0%-47.1%) specific for CSIs. The de novo model (diving, axial load, neck pain, inability to move neck, altered mental status, intubation, or respiratory distress) was 92.0% (85.7%-98.1%) sensitive and 50.3% (48.7%-51.8%) specific. CONCLUSIONS Our findings support previously identified pediatric CSI risk factors and prospective pediatric CSI prediction rule development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Lorin R. Browne
- Department of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine,
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| | | | - Hamilton Schwartz
- Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital Medical Center and College of Medicine, University of
Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio; and
| | - Michael Wallendorf
- Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Washington
University, St Louis, Missouri
| | - Jeffrey R. Leonard
- Neurosurgery, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
and College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
| | - E. Brooke Lerner
- Department of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine,
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| | - Nathan Kuppermann
- Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics,
School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento,
California
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to ascertain potential factors associated with cervical spine injuries in children injured during sports and recreational activities. METHODS This is a secondary analysis of a multicenter retrospective case-control study involving children younger than 16 years who presented to emergency departments after blunt trauma and underwent cervical spine radiography. Cases had cervical spine injury from sports or recreational activities (n = 179). Comparison groups sustained (1) cervical spine injury from other mechanisms (n = 361) or (2) other injuries from sports and recreational activities but were free of cervical spine injury (n = 180). RESULTS For children with sport and recreational activity-related cervical spine injuries, common injury patterns were subaxial (49%) and fractures (56%). These children were at increased odds of spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormalities compared with children with cervical spine injuries from other mechanisms (25% vs 6%). Children with sport and recreational activity-related trauma had increased odds of cervical spine injury if they had focal neurologic findings (odds ratio [OR], 5.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.5-9.4), had complaints of neck pain (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.9-5.0), were injured diving (OR, 43.5; 95% CI, 5.9-321.3), or sustained axial loading impacts (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.5). Football (22%), diving (20%), and bicycle crashes (11%) were the leading activities associated with cervical spine injury. CONCLUSIONS In children injured during sports and recreational activities, focal neurologic findings, neck pain, axial loading impacts, and the possibility of spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality should guide the diagnostic evaluation for potential cervical spine injuries. Certain activities have a considerable frequency of cervical spine injury, which may benefit from activity-specific preventive measures.
Collapse
|
4
|
Browne LR, Schwartz H, Ahmad FA, Wallendorf M, Kuppermann N, Lerner EB, Leonard JC. Interobserver Agreement in Pediatric Cervical Spine Injury Assessment Between Prehospital and Emergency Department Providers. Acad Emerg Med 2017; 24:1501-1510. [PMID: 28921731 DOI: 10.1111/acem.13312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2017] [Revised: 08/25/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Investigators have derived cervical spine injury (CSI) decision support tools from physician observations. There is a need to demonstrate that prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) providers can use these tools to appropriately determine the need for spinal motion restrictions and make field disposition decisions. OBJECTIVES The objective was to determine the interobserver agreement between EMS and emergency department (ED) providers for CSI risk assessment variables and overall gestalt for CSI in children after blunt trauma. METHODS This was a planned, substudy of a four-site, prospective cohort of children < 18 years transported by EMS to pediatric EDs for evaluation of CSI after blunt trauma. Inclusion criteria were trauma team activation and/or EMS-initiated spinal motion restriction. Exclusion criteria were penetrating trauma, transfer to another facility for definitive care, state custody, or substantial language barrier. For each eligible child, the transporting EMS provider and treating ED provider independently recorded their clinical assessment for CSI. This included mechanism of injury and patient history and physical examination findings. We assessed each paired variable for interobserver agreement between EMS and ED provider using kappa (κ) analysis. We considered variables with κ lower confidence interval values ≥0.4 to have moderate or better agreement. RESULTS We obtained 1,372 paired observations for 29 variables. After finding prevalence and observer bias were adjusted for, all variables achieved moderate to better agreement including eight variables previously shown to be independently associated with CSI in children: diving mechanism, high-risk motor vehicle collision, altered mental status, focal neurologic findings, neck pain, torticollis, substantial torso injury, and predisposing medical condition. EMS and ED providers, however, showed less than moderate agreement for their overall gestalt for CSI in children. Of note, both EMS and ED providers did not assess for neck pain, inability to move the neck, and/or cervical spine tenderness in more than 10% of study patients. CONCLUSIONS Emergency medical services and ED providers achieved at least moderate agreement in the assessment of CSI risk factors in children after blunt trauma. However, EMS and ED providers did not achieve moderate agreement on gestalt for CSI and some risk factors went unassessed by providers. These findings support the development of a pediatric CSI risk assessment tool for EMS and ED providers to reduce interventions for those children at very low risk for CSIs while still identifying all children with injury.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lorin R. Browne
- Department of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine; Medical College of Wisconsin (LRB, EBL); Madison WI
| | - Hamilton Schwartz
- Department of Pediatrics; University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (HS); Cincinnati OH
| | - Fahd A. Ahmad
- Department Pediatrics; Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; St. Louis MO
| | - Michael Wallendorf
- Department of Biostatistics; Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; St. Louis MO
| | - Nathan Kuppermann
- Department of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics; University of California Davis School of Medicine; Sacramento CA
| | - E. Brooke Lerner
- Department of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine; Medical College of Wisconsin (LRB, EBL); Madison WI
| | - Julie C. Leonard
- Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine; Columbus OH
| |
Collapse
|