BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Acute hematogenous musculoskeletal infections (MSKI) are medical emergencies with the potential for life-altering complications in afflicted children. Leveraging administrative data to study pediatric MSKI is difficult as many infections are chronic, nonhematogenous, or occur in children with significant comorbidities. The objective of this study was to validate a case-finding algorithm to accurately identify children hospitalized with acute hematogenous MSKI using administrative billing codes.

METHODS: This was a multicenter validation study using the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database. Hospital admissions for MSKI were identified from 6 PHIS hospitals using discharge diagnosis codes. A random subset of admissions underwent manual chart review at each site using predefined criteria to categorize each admission as either "acute hematogenous MSKI" (AH-MSKI) or "not acute hematogenous MSKI." Ten unique coding algorithms were developed using billing data. The sensitivity and specificity of each algorithm to identify AH-MSKI were calculated using chart review categorizations as the reference standard.

RESULTS: Of the 492 admissions randomly selected for manual review, 244 (49.6%) were classified as AH-MSKI and 248 (50.4%) as not acute hematogenous MSKI. Individual algorithm performance varied widely (sensitivity 31% to 91%; specificity 52% to 98%). Four algorithms demonstrated potential for future use with receiver operating characteristic area under the curve greater than 80%.

CONCLUSIONS: Identifying children with acute hematogenous MSKI based on discharge diagnosis alone is challenging as half have chronic or nonhematogenous infections. We validated several case-finding algorithms using administrative billing codes and detail them here for future use in pediatric MSKI outcomes.

<p>We observed pediatric S. aureus hospitalizations decreased 36% from 26.3 to 16.8 infections per 1,000 admissions from 2009 to 2016, with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) decreasing by 52% and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus decreasing by 17%, among 39 pediatric hospitals. Similar decreases were observed for days of therapy of anti-MRSA antibiotics.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>To characterize and compare antibiotic prescribing across PICUs to evaluate the degree of variability.</p>

<p><strong>DESIGN: </strong>Retrospective analysis from 2010 through 2014 of the Pediatric Health Information System.</p>

<p><strong>SETTING: </strong>Forty-one freestanding children's hospital.</p>

<p><strong>SUBJECTS: </strong>Children aged 30 days to 18 years admitted to a PICU in children's hospitals contributing data to Pediatric Health Information System.</p>

<p><strong>INTERVENTIONS: </strong>To normalize for potential differences in disease severity and case mix across centers, a subanalysis was performed of children admitted with one of the 20 All Patient Refined-Diagnosis Related Groups and the seven All Patient Refined-Diagnosis Related Groups shared by all PICUs with the highest antibiotic use.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>The study included 3,101,201 hospital discharges from 41 institutions with 386,914 PICU patients. All antibiotic use declined during the study period. The median-adjusted antibiotic use among PICU patients was 1,043 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days (interquartile range, 977-1,147 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days) compared with 893 among non-ICU children (interquartile range, 805-968 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days). For PICU patients, the median adjusted use of broad-spectrum antibiotics was 176 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days (interquartile range, 152-217 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days) and was 302 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days (interquartile range, 220-351 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days) for antimethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus agents, compared with 153 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days (interquartile range, 130-182 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days) and 244 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days (interquartile range, 203-270 days of therapy/1,000 patient-days) for non-ICU children. After adjusting for potential confounders, significant institutional variability existed in antibiotic use in PICU patients, in the 20 All Patient Refined-Diagnosis Related Groups with the highest antibiotic usage and in the seven All Patient Refined-Diagnosis Related Groups shared by all 41 PICUs.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>The wide variation in antibiotic use observed across children's hospital PICUs suggests inappropriate antibiotic use.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>To assess trends in the duration of intravenous (IV) antibiotics for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in infants ≤60 days old between 2005 and 2015 and determine if the duration of IV antibiotic treatment is associated with readmission.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>Retrospective analysis of infants ≤60 days old diagnosed with a UTI who were admitted to a children's hospital and received IV antibiotics. Infants were excluded if they had a previous surgery or comorbidities, bacteremia, or admission to the ICU. Data were analyzed from the Pediatric Health Information System database from 2005 through 2015. The primary outcome was readmission within 30 days for a UTI.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>The proportion of infants ≤60 days old receiving 4 or more days of IV antibiotics (long IV treatment) decreased from 50% in 2005 to 19% in 2015. The proportion of infants ≤60 days old receiving long IV treatment at 46 children's hospitals varied between 3% and 59% and did not correlate with readmission (correlation coefficient 0.13; P = .37). In multivariable analysis, readmission for a UTI was associated with younger age and female sex but not duration of IV antibiotic therapy (adjusted odds ratio for long IV treatment: 0.93 [95% confidence interval 0.52-1.67]).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>The proportion of infants ≤60 days old receiving long IV treatment decreased substantially from 2005 to 2015 without an increase in hospital readmissions. These findings support the safety of short-course IV antibiotic therapy for appropriately selected neonates.</p>

<p>Administrative data are often used as a proxy for medication-administration record (MAR) data. Multicenter MAR data were compared retrospectively with administrative data from January 2010 through June 2013 from the Pediatric Health Information Systems database. We found that administrative data were more concordant with bill-upon-administration than bill-upon-dispense data.</p>