Table 2.
Determinants of blood testing in febrile children
| Level | Determinants | OR (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | Intercept | 0.01 (0.001–0.09) |
| Age group (> 5 years: reference) | ||
| < 3 months | 8.71 (5.23–14.53) | |
| 3 months–1 year | 1.02 (0.74–1.39) | |
| 1–5 years | 0.80 (0.61–1.04) | |
| Triage level (non-urgent: reference) | ||
| Immediate | 19.46 (3.66–103.60) | |
| Very urgent | 7.64 (4.34–13.49) | |
| Urgent | 4.58 (3.11–6.74) | |
| Standard | 1.53 (1.06–2.22) | |
| Fever duration in daysa | 1.41 (1.31–1.51) | |
| Ill appearance (well-appearance: reference) | 3.13 (2.29–4.26) | |
| Focus of infection (upper respiratory tract: reference) | ||
| Lower respiratory tract | 1.37 (1.01–1.85) | |
| Enteric | 2.33 (1.76–3.09) | |
| Urinary tract | 10.84 (6.35–18.50) | |
| Cutaneous | 1.89 (1.09–3.28) | |
| Fever without source | 3.03 (2.09–4.39) | |
| Hospital characteristics | Hospital type (non-teaching: reference) | |
| Academic | 3.70 (0.41–33.31) | |
| Teaching | 2.32 (0.25–21.54) | |
Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval
aAn upper limit of five days duration was set for modelling purposes