Pediatric anesthesia & critical care
Balancing sensitivity and specificity: investigating the effect of age delay and critical illness events on the number of threshold alarms
Authors' conclusion
Age-specific threshold, delay, and critical illness events can be used to strike a balance between the sensitivity and specificity of threshold alarms.
Study context
- Population
- Pediatric patients in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) at Queen Elizabeth and Zomba Central Hospitals, Malawi (IMPALA Project)IMPALA Project data
- Participants
- 772 patients
- Comparison
- Age-specific threshold vs Normal threshold
- Primary endpoint
- Number of threshold alarms
Methodological detailsretrospective observational study, time series analysis, multi-regression model
- Retrospective observational study
- Time series analysis
- Multi-regression model
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Reduction in total threshold alarms with age-specific threshold, ECGHR
31.14%
Reduction in total threshold alarms with age-specific threshold, ECGRR
17.54%
Reduction in total threshold alarms with age-specific threshold, SPO2
54.79%
Reduction in total threshold alarms with 15-s delay
45%
Further findings
Threshold alarms around critical illness events
- Respiratory support, 3 h after event: total threshold alarms
- 232
- Respiratory support, 3 h after event: with 15 s delay
- 77
- Respiratory support, 3 h after event: with 15 s delay and age-specific threshold
- 17
- More threshold alarms 1 h before critical illness events, mostly of longer duration
Effect of critical illness events on threshold alarms (multi-regression)
- Convulsion
- P < 0.0001
- Malaria treatment
- P < 0.0001
- Death
- P = 0.053
- Respiratory support
- P = 0.046
- Sepsis
- P = 0.051
- Bronchodilator support, β
- - 0.0030
- Death, β
- - 0.0374
- Malaria treatment, β
- - 0.0056
- Inotropic support, β
- - 0.0063
- Significance level p < 0.05
Original publication
Balancing sensitivity and specificity: investigating the effect of age delay and critical illness events on the number of threshold alarms. J Clin Monit Comput. Published 29 July 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →