Can complete blood cell counts accurately identify febrile infants with bacteremia or bacterial meningitis?
BEEM Bottom Line
Why is this study important?
Historically, complete blood cell (CBC) counts parameters have been used as a marker for invasive bacterial infections (IBI) and are part of all the algorithms that are used to try and identify those infants at risk for IBI. This is the first large scale investigation into the diagnostic accuracy of previously established white blood cell (WBC) parameters used in the algorithms of many emergency departments (ED) to rule out IBI in infants ≤ 60 days old.
Which, if any, threats to validity are most likely to have an impact on the results and how?
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