Objective Infants 12 months or younger with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) commonly present to the emergency department (ED) with fever. Previous publications have recommended that these patients have a urinalysis and urine culture performed. We aimed to assess the prevalence of urinary tract infection (UTI) in febrile RSV/influenza positive infants aged 2 to 12 months presenting to the ED. We also examined whether the 2011 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) UTI clinical practice guidelines could be used to identify patients at lower risk of UTI. Methods This was a retrospective chart review examining all infants aged 2 to 12 months with a documented fever of higher than 38°C who presented to our ED from 2009 to 2013 and tested positive for influenza and/or RSV. Results One thousand seven hundred twenty-four patients were found to meet our inclusion criteria. Of these, 98 were excluded because of known urinary tract anomaly or systemic antibiotic use in the 24 hours preceding evaluation. Of those patients remaining, 10 (0.62%) of 1626 had positive urine cultures (95% confidence interval, 0.3%–1.1%), and 8 (0.49%) of 1626 (95% confidence interval, 0.2%–0.97%) had positive urine cultures with positive urinalyses as defined in the 2011 AAP UTI clinical practice guidelines. All subjects with positive urine cultures as defined by the AAP had risk factors for UTI that placed their risk for UTI above 1%. Conclusions Our population of 2- to 12-month-old febrile infants with positive influenza/RSV testing, who did not have risk factors to make their risk of UTI higher than 1%, may not have required evaluation with urinalysis or urine culture.

This PICU cohort demonstrates that the odds or predicted probability of dying change in patients who received platelet transfusions based on underlying disease severity measured by Pediatric Risk of Mortality-3 score compared with patients who did not receive platelet transfusions. A large, prospective trial is required to confirm this association and determine whether to consider underlying disease severity in estimating risks and benefits of prophylactic platelet transfusions in critically ill children.

BACKGROUND Incontrovertible predictors of shunt malfunction remain elusive. OBJECTIVE To determine predictors of shunt failure within 30 d of index surgery. METHODS This was a single-center retrospective cohort study from January 2010 through November 2016. Using a ventricular shunt surgery research database, clinical and procedural variables were procured. An “index surgery” was defined as implantation of a new shunt or revision or augmentation of an existing shunt system. The primary outcome was shunt failure of any kind within the first 30 days of index surgery. Bivariate models were created, followed by a final multivariable logistic regression model using a backward-forward selection procedure. RESULTS Our dataset contained 655 unique patients with a total of 1206 operations. The median age for the cohort at the time of first shunt surgery was 4.6 yr (range, 0-28; first and third quartile, .37 and 11.8, respectively). The 30-day failure rates were 12.4% when analyzing the first-index operation only (81/655), and 15.7% when analyzing all-index operations (189/1206). Small or slit ventricles at the time of index surgery and prior ventricular shunt operations were found to be significant covariates in both the “first-index” (P < .01 and P = .05, respectively) and “all-index” (P = .02 and P < .01, respectively) multivariable models. Intraventricular hemorrhage at the time of index surgery was an additional predictor in the all-index model (P = .01). CONCLUSION This study demonstrates that only 3 variables are predictive of 30-day shunt failure when following established variable selection procedures, 2 of which are potentially under direct control of the surgeon.

Objective To characterize the physical activity (PA) level in patients with a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) during the COVID-19 pandemic and compare PA level during the pandemic in 2020 to the year 2019. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of PA activity in individuals implanted with a CIED enrolled in the BIOTRONIK CERTITUDE Registry.Mean daily and weekly PA from January to August 2020 was compared to 2019. Results A total of 21,660 individuals met eligibility criteria, with mean age of 72.6 ± 11.6 years, and 57.4% were males. A significant decline in daily PA was noted following the pandemic declaration in 2020, with a maximum mean reduction of -24.5 ± 36.3 minutes (p<0.0001) observed in April 2020 compared to 2019. PA in 2020 increased from April to May (120.6 ± 67.4 to 129.2 ± 70.9 minutes/day). PA was lower for all months in 2020 compared to 2019. The decrease in PA was seen in all pre-specified groups based on age, gender, type of device, and region of the country. Conclusion Following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic a significant decline in daily PA was observed in individuals with a CIED. Future investigation to establish the impact of this reduction on short and long-term cardiovascular outcomes is required.

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