Predictive Accuracy of Chest Radiographs in Diagnosing Tachypneic Children.

Objective: To test the predictive accuracy and reporting reproducibility of digital chest radiographs under low-resource conditions.

Methods: One hundred thirty four tachypneic children who presented to two Indian hospitals were enrolled. Based on review of 16 variables recorded in the Emergency Room (ER) by a senior pediatrician, children were given one of the four clinical diagnoses: pneumonia, wheezy disease, mixed and non-respiratory.

Can we distinguish pneumonia from wheezy diseases in tachypnoeic children under low-resource conditions? A prospective observational study in four Indian hospitals.

Background: Acute respiratory infections are the commonest cause of mortality and morbidity in children worldwide. A quarter of all deaths occur in India alone. In order to reduce this disease burden, there is a need for better diagnostic criteria, particularly ones allowing early detection of high-risk children.