Prognostic Accuracy of the Phoenix Sepsis Criteria for Mortality in Children With Suspected Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

In 30 seconds

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the prognostic accuracy of the Phoenix Sepsis Criteria (PSC) for in-hospital mortality in children with suspected infections. Analyzing 15 studies with 2,601,038 encounters, the PSC showed a pooled sensitivity of 0.77 and specificity of 0.73, outperforming the International Pediatric Sepsis Consensus Conference criteria, which had an AUC of 0.71.

Key findings

• The PSC had a pooled sensitivity of 0.77 and specificity of 0.73.
• The diagnostic odds ratio for the PSC was 9.2.
• The area under the curve (AUC) for the PSC was 0.81, compared to 0.71 for the IPSCC.
• PSC specificity was lower in ICU settings (0.48) than in emergency department cohorts (0.99).

Why it matters

Understanding the prognostic accuracy of sepsis criteria is crucial for clinicians to effectively assess mortality risk in pediatric patients with suspected infections, guiding timely interventions and resource allocation.