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Lois K Lee,
Peter S Dayan,
Michael J Gerardi,
Dominic A Borgialli,
Mohamed K Badawy, James M Callahan,
Kathleen A Lillis,
Rachel M Stanley,
Marc H Gorelick,
Li Dong,
Sally Jo Zuspan,
James F Holmes,
Nathan Kuppermann
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ABSTRACT: To determine computerized tomography (CT) use and prevalence of traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in children with and without congenital and acquired bleeding disorders.
We compared CT use and ICH prevalence in children with and without bleeding disorders in a multicenter cohort study of 43 904 children <18 years old with blunt head trauma evaluated in 25 emergency departments.
A total of 230 children had bleeding disorders; all had Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores of 14 to 15. These children had higher CT rates than children without bleeding disorders and GCS scores of 14 to 15 (risk ratio, 2.29; 95% CI, 2.15 to 2.44). Of the children who underwent imaging with CT, 2 of 186 children with bleeding disorders had ICH (1.1%; 95% CI, 0.1 to 3.8) , compared with 655 of 14 969 children without bleeding disorders (4.4%; 95% CI, 4.1-4.7; rate ratio, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.06 to 0.98). Both children with bleeding disorders and ICHs had symptoms; none of the children required neurosurgery.
In children with head trauma, CTs are obtained twice as often in children with bleeding disorders, although ICHs occurred in only 1.1%, and these patients had symptoms. Routine CT imaging after head trauma may not be required in children without symptoms who have congenital and acquired bleeding disorders.
The Journal of pediatrics 01/2011; 158(6):1003-1008.e1-2. · 4.02 Impact Factor
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James M Callahan
The Journal of pediatrics 09/2010; 157(6):873-5. · 4.02 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Traumatic brain injury is common in children. Fortunately, most patients suffer mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). Appropriate guidelines for follow-up care are not well established. We sought to determine practice experience and preferences of general pediatricians related to follow-up care of MTBI.
Members of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council of Community Pediatrics and general pediatricians in the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics participated in a web-based survey regarding practice setting, level of comfort caring for patients with MTBI, and referral patterns for such patients.
A total of 298 pediatricians responded. An urban or suburban practice setting was reported by 83.3% with a wide distribution in practice experience (0-10 years 40.5%, 11-20 years 24.5%, >21 years 35%). Most respondents (54.5%) had cared for at least 2 to 5 patients with MTBI in the past 6 months but only 8% had seen >10 patients. Fifty-nine percent had not participated in continuing medical education activities related to MTBI and 62.2% did not use neurocognitive tests. The majority (89%) thought that they were the appropriate provider for follow-up; this declined to 61.2% for patients with loss of consciousness and only 5.4% if patients had persistent symptoms. Neurologists (75%) were the consultant of choice for referral. Increased practice experience was associated with an increased comfort in determining return to play status.
In this survey, pediatricians thought that they were the most appropriate clinicians to follow-up patients with MTBI. However, most accepted this responsibility without the benefit of specific continuing medical education or using neurocognitive tests. Ensuring the availability of appropriate resources for pediatricians to care for these patients is important.
The Journal of trauma 06/2010; 68(6):1396-400. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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Nathan Kuppermann,
James F Holmes,
Peter S Dayan,
John D Hoyle,
Shireen M Atabaki,
Richard Holubkov,
Frances M Nadel,
David Monroe,
Rachel M Stanley,
Dominic A Borgialli, [......],
Michael C Bachman,
Arthur Cooper,
Elizabeth C Powell,
Michael J Gerardi,
Kraig A Melville,
J Paul Muizelaar,
David H Wisner,
Sally Jo Zuspan,
J Michael Dean,
Sandra L Wootton-Gorges
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ABSTRACT: CT imaging of head-injured children has risks of radiation-induced malignancy. Our aim was to identify children at very low risk of clinically-important traumatic brain injuries (ciTBI) for whom CT might be unnecessary.
We enrolled patients younger than 18 years presenting within 24 h of head trauma with Glasgow Coma Scale scores of 14-15 in 25 North American emergency departments. We derived and validated age-specific prediction rules for ciTBI (death from traumatic brain injury, neurosurgery, intubation >24 h, or hospital admission >or=2 nights).
We enrolled and analysed 42 412 children (derivation and validation populations: 8502 and 2216 younger than 2 years, and 25 283 and 6411 aged 2 years and older). We obtained CT scans on 14 969 (35.3%); ciTBIs occurred in 376 (0.9%), and 60 (0.1%) underwent neurosurgery. In the validation population, the prediction rule for children younger than 2 years (normal mental status, no scalp haematoma except frontal, no loss of consciousness or loss of consciousness for less than 5 s, non-severe injury mechanism, no palpable skull fracture, and acting normally according to the parents) had a negative predictive value for ciTBI of 1176/1176 (100.0%, 95% CI 99.7-100 0) and sensitivity of 25/25 (100%, 86.3-100.0). 167 (24.1%) of 694 CT-imaged patients younger than 2 years were in this low-risk group. The prediction rule for children aged 2 years and older (normal mental status, no loss of consciousness, no vomiting, non-severe injury mechanism, no signs of basilar skull fracture, and no severe headache) had a negative predictive value of 3798/3800 (99.95%, 99.81-99.99) and sensitivity of 61/63 (96.8%, 89.0-99.6). 446 (20.1%) of 2223 CT-imaged patients aged 2 years and older were in this low-risk group. Neither rule missed neurosurgery in validation populations.
These validated prediction rules identified children at very low risk of ciTBIs for whom CT can routinely be obviated.
The Emergency Medical Services for Children Programme of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau Research Programme, Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services.
The Lancet 09/2009; 374(9696):1160-70. · 38.28 Impact Factor
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James M Callahan
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ABSTRACT: Although the recognition of hypoxemia is greatly enhanced through the proper and informed use of the pulse oximeter, the device can never be relied on to take the place of the clinician at the bedside who makes sure that the data provided matches the clinical picture with which he or she is presented.
Emergency medicine clinics of North America 12/2008; 26(4):869-79, vii. · 0.96 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To be useful in development of clinical decision rules, clinical variables must demonstrate acceptable agreement when assessed by different observers. The objective was to determine the interobserver agreement in the assessment of historical and physical examination findings of children undergoing emergency department (ED) evaluation for blunt head trauma.
This was a prospective cohort study of children younger than 18 years evaluated for blunt head trauma at one of 25 EDs in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). Patients were excluded if injury occurred more than 24 hours prior to evaluation, if neuroimaging was obtained at another hospital prior to evaluation, or if the patient had a clinically trivial mechanism of injury. Two clinicians independently completed a standardized clinical assessment on a templated data form. Assessments were performed within 60 minutes of each other and prior to clinician review of any neuroimaging (if obtained). Agreement between the two observers beyond that expected by chance was calculated for each clinical variable, using the kappa (kappa) statistic for categorical variables and weighted kappa for ordinal variables. Variables with a lower 95% confidence limit (LCL) of kappa > 0.4 were considered to have acceptable agreement,
Fifteen-hundred pairs of observations were obtained. Acceptable agreement was achieved in 27 of the 32 variables studied (84%). Mechanism of injury (low, medium, or high risk) had kappa = 0.83. For subjective symptoms, kappa ranged from 0.47 (dizziness) to 0.93 (frequency of vomiting); all had 95% LCL > 0.4. Of the physical examination findings, kappa ranged from 0.22 (agitated) to 0.89 (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score). The 95% LCL for kappa was < 0.4 for four individual signs of altered mental status and for quality (i.e., boggy or firm) of scalp hematoma if present.
Both subjective and objective clinical variables in children with blunt head trauma can be assessed by different observers with acceptable agreement, making these variables suitable candidates for clinical decision rules.
Academic Emergency Medicine 09/2008; 15(9):812-8. · 1.86 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Cases of pertussis, a potentially life-threatening illness in infants younger than 6 months of age, are at a 40-year high. Children frequently present to emergency departments for initial evaluation. Quick recognition of the illness allows rapid triage, isolation, and prevention of nosocomial transmission. A retrospective, case-control chart review was conducted of pediatric emergency department patients (0 to 18 years of age) presenting between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2004. Analysis focused on the exploration of medical history and physical examination variables as predictors using laboratory verification of the presence of pertussis as a binary outcome variable. Infants younger than 2 months who have a cough or choking associated with cyanosis, as well as a cough and rhonchi on physical examination, have a high likelihood of pertussis and should be identified in triage, isolated immediately, and tested for pertussis. This may lead to appropriate therapy for this population and decrease the transmission of pertussis to other patients and staff in the pediatric emergency department.
Clinical Pediatrics 07/2007; 46(5):437-40. · 1.15 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Determine prevalence of participation and underimmunization rate in a regional immunization registry (IR) among patients presenting to a university pediatric emergency department (PED). Rate of agreement between parental report and documented immunization status was also measured.
A convenience sample of parents of patients younger than 11 years registered in the PED were approached with a short questionnaire. When informed consent was obtained, the Central New York (CNY) IR was accessed via computer to see if the child was in the registry and to ascertain if their immunizations were up-to-date (UTD). Rate of agreement between parental report and immunization status documented in the IR was calculated.
698 (97%) of 720 patients consented to participate. Of these, 235 (34%, 95% CI, 30-37) were enrolled in the IR. Eighty-five (36%, 95% CI, 30-42) enrolled patients were under age 2. Sixty-seven (29%, 95% CI, 23-34) were from private group practices, 146 (62%, 95% CI, 56-68) were from university/community health center clinics and the source of primary care for 22 patients (9%) was unknown. Only 67 (29%, 95% CI, 23-34) parents of children in the IR were aware that they were enrolled. Of IR patients, 225 (96%, 95% CI, 93-98) stated they were UTD, while only 143 (61%, 95% CI, 55-67) were documented to be so.
A significant number of patients seen in the PED were in the CNY IR. More than one-half of the parents of enrolled children did not recall that they had previously registered their child. Only 61% of patients were UTD, whereas parents reported that almost all were. In the PED, use of an IR would create an opportunity for intervention in a large number of patients who were not UTD.
Pediatric emergency care 06/2004; 20(5):297-301. · 0.92 Impact Factor
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Pediatric Emergency Care 09/2002; 18(4):303-9. · 0.78 Impact Factor
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James M Callahan
Prehospital Emergency Care 13(2):269-70. · 1.78 Impact Factor
