Diagnostic Accuracy of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Definitions in Hospitalized Children

How accurate are existing case definitions for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in detecting viral respiratory tract infections in hospitalized children?This systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 studies found the World Health Organization 2014 SARI case definition to be the most widely used. Meta-analysis yielded a pooled sensitivity and specificity of 75.7% and 30.6% for influenza and 70.6% and 38.7% for respiratory syncytial virus, respectively; sensitivity decreased greatly in younger age groups.These findings suggest that existing viral surveillance resources that rely on SARI case definitions may underestimate disease burden in young pediatric cohorts.

Corresponding Author: Peter J. Gill, MD, DPhil, Child Health Evaluative Sciences, SickKids Research Institute, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, 686 Bay St, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada (peter.gill@sickkids.ca).

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