Biomarker Thresholds for Bacterial Infections in Young Children with Fever

37 studies published between 2013 and 2023 were aggregated to identify diagnostic thresholds for C-reactive protein and procalcitonin. The meta-analysis, registered with PROSPERO, found a CRP cut-off of 10–20 mg/L and a PCT cut-off of <0.5 ng/mL showed the best performance for predicting serious bacterial infections. This dataset was authored by Natalia Sutiman and shared on figshare in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Train diagnostic classifiers based on CRP and PCT thresholds mentioned in the meta-analysis.
• Benchmark new biomarker studies against the pooled sensitivity and specificity values reported.
• Inform clinical decision support systems for children ≤36 months with fever without source.
• Conduct meta-analytic research on diagnostic accuracy for serious bacterial infections.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a systematic review of 37 studies, providing a consolidated evidence base.
• Results include specific pooled sensitivity and specificity metrics with 95% confidence intervals.
• The review protocol was pre-registered (PROSPERO CRD42023439093), suggesting a structured methodology.
• Analysis covers three distinct biomarkers (CRP, PCT, IL-6) for comparative assessment.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 585.6 KB PDF; the underlying tabular data (e.g., study-level results) is not directly accessible.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred from the published article.
• Data may reflect publication and selection bias inherent to the systematic review's inclusion criteria.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Natalia Sutiman.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from MEDLINE, Cochrane, CINAHL, and Web of Science.

Time Range

Studies published between November 2013 and November 2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 07:41:08; includes studies up to November 2023.