Table 1.
Diagnostic characteristics of clinicians’ gut feeling that something is wrong in children presenting to primary care
| Variables | Serious infection | Non-serious infection | Sensitivity (%) | Specificity (%) | Predictive values (%) | Positive likelihood ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All children presenting to primary care (n=3890) | ||||||
| Gut feeling: | ||||||
| Present | 13 | 107 | 61.9 | 97.2 | Positive: 10.8, negative: 99.8 | 22.4 |
| Absent | 8 | 3762 | ||||
| Children in whom clinical impression was of a non-serious illness (n=3369)* | ||||||
| Gut feeling: | ||||||
| Present | 2 | 44 | 33.3 | 98.7 | Positive: 4.4, negative: 99.9 | 25.5 |
| Absent | 4 | 3319 | ||||
*Excludes children with clinical impression of serious illness (n=294) or for whom information on clinical impression was missing (n=227).