Wheeze as an adverse event in pediatric vaccine and drug randomized controlled trials: A systematic review

Abstract

Introduction Wheeze is an important sign indicating a potentially severe adverse event in vaccine and drug trials, particularly in children. However, there are currently no consensus definitions of wheeze or associated respiratory compromise in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Objective To identify definitions and severity grading scales of wheeze as an adverse event in vaccine and drug RCTs enrolling children <5 years and to determine their diagnostic performance based on sensitivity, specificity and inter-observer agreement. Methods We performed a systematic review of electronic databases and reference lists with restrictions for trial settings, English language and publication date ≥ 1970. Wheeze definitions and severity grading were abstracted and ranked by a diagnostic certainty score based on sensitivity, specificity and inter-observer agreement. Results Of 1,205 articles identified using our broad search terms, we identified 58 eligible trials conducted in 38 countries, mainly in high-income settings. Vaccines made up the majority (90%) of interventions, particularly influenza vaccines (65%). Only 15 trials provided explicit definitions of wheeze. Of 24 studies that described severity, 11 described wheeze severity in the context of an explicit wheeze definition. The remaining 13 studies described wheeze severity where wheeze was defined as part of a respiratory illness or a wheeze equivalent. Wheeze descriptions were elicited from caregiver reports (14%), physical examination by a health worker (45%) or a combination (41%). There were 21/58 studies in which wheeze definitions included combined caregiver report and healthcare worker assessment. The use of these two methods appeared to have the highest combined sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion Standardized wheeze definitions and severity grading scales for use in pediatric vaccine or drug trials are lacking. Standardized definitions of wheeze are needed for assessment of possible adverse events as new vaccines and drugs are evaluated.

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“…A systematic review of pediatric drug and vaccine trials that included wheeze as an adverse event reported that only 26% of the trials provided a definition of wheezing. 32 The strong agreement between the in-person and recorded examinations in this study suggests that digital audio-video recordings may be a reliable means for future trials and multicenter studies to standardize assessment of respiratory findings.…”

Exogenous lipoid pneumonia in children: A systematic review

“…This scale is envisaged to provide standardized case definitions in reporting new cases and would facilitate research across studies of optimal management strategies and outcomes. Diagnostic certainty levels have been proposed for randomized control trials in other conditions in children such as wheezing, where standardized definitions are lacking [51]. Additionally, standardized reporting could be adapted from international registries such as the international management platform for ChILD [52] or other global registries.…”

A multi-site feasibility study to assess fever and wheezing in children after influenza vaccines using text messaging

“…Wheezing is considered to be an important outcome of interest in vaccine safety assessments [19], and there was a specific concern about wheezing after LAIV [17,20,21]. As noted above, LAIV was in use during the seasons our study was conducted 2014–15 and 2015–16).…”