PLOS ONE

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Vital sign predictors of severe influenza

among children in an emergent care setting
Suchitra Rao ID1*, Angela Moss2, Molly Lamb3, Bruce L. Innis4, Edwin J. Asturias5,6
1 Department of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases, Hospital Medicine and Epidemiology), University of
Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States of America,
2 Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado and
Adult and Child Center for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science, Aurora, CO, United States of
America, 3 Department of Epidemiology and Center for Global Health, University of Colorado School of
Public Health, Aurora, CO, United States of America, 4 Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access, PATH,
a1111111111 Seattle, WA, United States of America, 5 Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of
a1111111111 Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States of America, 6 Department of Epidemiology and Center for Global
a1111111111 Health, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, United States of America
a1111111111
* [email protected]
a1111111111

Abstract
OPEN ACCESS

Citation: Rao S, Moss A, Lamb M, Innis BL, Background

Asturias EJ (2022) Vital sign predictors of severe
Decisions regarding the evaluation of children with influenza infection rely on the likelihood
influenza among children in an emergent care
setting. PLoS ONE 17(8): e0272029. https://doi. of severe disease. The role of early vital signs as predictors of severe influenza infection in
org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 children is not well known. Our objectives were to determine the value of vital signs in pre-
Editor: Carla Pegoraro, PLOS, UNITED KINGDOM dicting hospitalization/recurrent emergency department (ED) visits due to influenza infection
in children.
Received: March 23, 2021

Accepted: July 12, 2022

Methods
Published: August 12, 2022
We conducted a prospective study of children aged 6 months to 8 years of age with influ-
Copyright: © 2022 Rao et al. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
enza like illness evaluated at an ED/UC from 2016–2018. All children underwent influenza
Creative Commons Attribution License, which testing by PCR. We collected heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature, and converted
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) to z-scores by age. HR z scores were further
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
adjusted for temperature. Our primary outcome was hospitalization/recurrent ED visits
author and source are credited.
within 72 hours. Vital sign predictors with p< 0.2 and other clinical covariates were entered
Data Availability Statement: Data are held in a
into a multivariable logistic regression model to determine odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI;
public repository (EASY DANS). The DOI where the
data can be accessed is as follows: https://doi.org/ model performance was assessed using the Brier score and discriminative ability with the C
10.17026/dans-zq7-jr8v. statistic.
Funding: This work was a collaborative study
supported by a research grant from Results
GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA (study: 206214)
and partly supported by NIH/NCATS Colorado CTSI Among 1478 children, 411 (27.8%) were positive for influenza, of which 42 (10.2%) were
Grant Number UL1 TR002535. The funder hospitalized or had a recurrent ED visit. In multivariable analyses, adjusting for age, high-
provided support in the form of salaries for author
risk medical condition and school/daycare attendance, higher adjusted respiratory rate (OR
BI, but did not have any additional role in the study
design, data collection and analysis, decision to 2.09, 95%CI 1.21–3.61, p = 0.0085) was a significant predictor of influenza hospitalization/
publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The recurrent ED visits.

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 1 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

specific roles of these authors are articulated in the Conclusions

‘author contributions’ section. The funder was
provided the opportunity to review a preliminary Higher respiratory rate adjusted for age was the most useful vital sign predictor of severity
version of this manuscript for factual accuracy, but among young children with PCR-confirmed influenza.
the authors are solely responsible for final content
and interpretation. This study is listed under
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02979626.

Competing interests: Bruce Innis was employed

by the GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA group of Introduction
companies at the time of study conception and Influenza remains a significant public health threat, with unpredictable epidemics, pandemics
planning. Edwin Asturias received research support
and variable vaccine effectiveness leading to substantial yearly morbidity and mortality. While
from the GSK group of companies and receives
research support from Pfizer. Suchitra Rao patients with certain medical conditions are at high risk for complications from influenza [1],
received funding support from the GSK group of severe illness can occur among healthy individuals, especially among children less than 5 years
companies and Biofire. Molly Lamb received of age [2–4]. Early identification of children with influenza may lead to earlier treatment initia-
funding support from the GSK group of companies tion and improved outcomes [5–7]). Determining early, objective measures that do not require
and Biofire. This does not alter our adherence to
laboratory or radiographic testing is of high value to help identify children at risk for higher
PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials
All other authors have no conflicts of interest to
morbidity and help guide providers’ clinical decision-making for enhanced care.
disclose. Despite advancements in diagnostics and therapeutics, one of the most significant chal-
lenges facing clinicians is in deciding which patients to test and treat for influenza. Clinically,
Abbreviations: ED, Emergency Department; UC,
Urgent Care; ILI, influenza like illness; CHCO,
influenza is often indistinguishable from other viruses, and there is no single symptom or sign
Children’s Hospital Colorado; OR, Odds Ratio; IQR, with adequate sensitivity to make informed clinical decisions regarding testing or treatment
Interquartile range. [8, 9]. In one study, clinician judgment had sensitivity of only 29% in accurately diagnosing
influenza [10]. While molecular testing platforms are more reliable than rapid antigen tests,
they are expensive, and not widespread. Antivirals lead to a reduction in illness duration, and
are associated with a decreased risk of lower respiratory tract infection, hospitalization and
death [11, 12], but should be limited to patients who are at the highest risk for complications,
to avoid widespread resistance to current therapeutics [13]. There is a critical need to increase
the pre-test probability of children with influenza with the highest risk of morbidity, avoid
excessive testing and treatment, and provide objective measures of severity to help determine
when to escalate treatment or make decisions regarding disposition to improve the outcomes
of children with severe disease.
Objective measures utilizing early vital sign data show promise in predicting more severe
outcomes among adults with influenza using oxygen saturation, blood pressure, temperature
and respiratory rate [14, 15]. However, pediatric evidence is sparse in the literature [16, 17].
Therefore, the objective of this analysis was to determine the usefulness of early vital signs in
children to predict severe influenza infection defined as hospitalization or recurrent emer-
gency department or urgent care visits.

Methods
This study underwent full board review and was approved by the Colorado Multiple Institu-
tions Review Board (COMIRB No.15-2308). This is a secondary analysis of a prospective study
to evaluate a new moderate to severe classification of influenza in children [18]. Briefly, chil-
dren 6 months-8 years of age presenting with influenza-like-illness (ILI) to the Children’s Hos-
pital Colorado (CHCO) ED and an affiliated Urgent Care center were enrolled during two
influenza seasons (January-April 2017 and November 2017-April 2018). ILI was defined as a
temperature of �37.8⁰C and at least one of the following: cough, sore throat, runny nose or
nasal congestion [19]. Children were excluded if they had respiratory symptom duration of
greater than 14 days, if they were enrolled in the study within the prior 14 days, or if they had
nurse-only visits. Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained from all children and tested using the

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 2 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

Cepheid Xpert1 influenza real time RT- PCR (Sunnyvale, CA). Written informed consent
was sought from all study participants. For children less than 7 years of age, written consent
was obtained from parents/guardians, and for children 7 years of age and older, in addition to
written consent from parents/guardians, additional written assent was obtained from children
participating in the study per institutional policies. We evaluated our primary outcome firstly
with the entire cohort, and secondly, with the subset of children who tested positive for influ-
enza. Caregivers were interviewed in the ED or Urgent care regarding the child’s demographic
characteristics, presenting symptoms, medical comorbidities, influenza vaccination status and
household size. Vital sign data (heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure,
capillary refill time) collected by chart abstraction, included the first set of vital signs and the
highest heart rate/respiratory rate or temperature. Children were characterized as high-risk if
they had a comorbidity increasing their risk of complications from influenza [20]. A vacci-
nated individual was defined as a child who received the adequate number of influenza vac-
cines for a given season, as defined by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
[21].
The primary outcome was hospitalization or recurrent ED or UC visits within 72 hours of
the index visit. Data were summarized descriptively using frequencies for categorical variables
and measures of central tendency for continuous variables. Proportions were compared using
the Chi-square test or the Fisher’s exact test when needed. Mean values were compared using
student’s t test. To examine the predictive value of vital sign data for PCR-confirmed influenza
of subjects in the study cohort and hospitalization of the influenza-positive subjects, multivari-
able logistic regression was used. Heart rate and respiratory rate z score by age were calculated
using a reference for expected heart rate and respiratory rate in hospitalized children [21].
Heart rate z scores were further adjusted for temperature [22]. A bivariable analysis was per-
formed for each predictor of interest with outcome. Correlation between predictors was
assessed with Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. Model performance was assessed
with the scaled Brier score with higher values indicating better model performance. Discrimi-
native ability was evaluated with the C statistic (Values >0.7 indicate good model discrimina-
tion) [23]. SAS v 9.4 (Cary, NC) was used for all analyses.

Results
Among 1516 children with ILI enrolled in the study, 38 (2.5%) were excluded due to study
withdrawal, meeting exclusion criteria or for other reasons. Of the remaining 1478 chil-
dren, 252 were hospitalized, 45 had a recurrent ED visit within 72 hours of study enroll-
ment; 411 (27.8%) tested positive for influenza type A or B, of which 28 (6.8%) were
hospitalized and 14 (3.4%) had a recurrent ED visit within 72 hours of study enrollment.
No hospitalized children who tested positive for influenza in our study required intensive
care. We excluded 24 children who had a recurrent ED or UC visit after 72 hours from
these analyses. The mean age of children with influenza was 4.2 years (IQR 2.2–6.1); 27%
were considered at high-risk for influenza complications, and 37% were completely vacci-
nated against influenza for that season. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics
among children with influenza infection with and without hospitalization or recurrent ED
visits are shown in Table 1. Children with influenza infection who were hospitalized or
had a recurrent ED visit within 72 hours were more likely to have a high-risk medical con-
dition (57% vs 23%, p < 0.01). The commonest reason for hospitalization among influenza
positive patients was due to respiratory distress, hypoxia and dehydration. A higher pro-
portion of children who were influenza negative were admitted for hypoxia compared
with children who were influenza positive (3.8% vs 2.7%; p < 0.01).

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 3 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of study participants.

Variables Total Influenza Influenza p-valuea Influenza Positive Influenza Positive p-valuea
(n = 1478) Positive Negative Recurrent ED visit/ No Recurrent ED visit/
n (%) (n = 411) (n = 1067) Hospitalization Hospitalization
n (%) n (%) (n = 42) (n = 363)
n (%) n (%)
Age in years, mean (SD) 3.2 (2.2) 4.2 (2.3) 2.9 (2.0) <0.01b 3.9 (2.2) 4.3 (2.4) 0.33b
Male gender 793 (54) 206 (50) 587 (55) 0.09 19 (45) 183 (50) 0.53
Race/Ethnicity:
Hispanic/Latino 741 (50) 236 (57) 505 (47) <0.01 24 (57) 210 (58) 0.93
White Non-Hispanic 477 (32) 108 (26) 369 (35) 12 (29) 93 (26)
Black Non-Hispanic 127 (9) 38 (9) 89 (8) 4 (20) 34 (9)
Other 133 (9) 29 (7) 104 (10) 2 (5) 26 (7)
High-risk medical 425 (29) 111 (27) 314 (29) 0.36 24 (57) 85 (23) < .01
condition
Insurance Status:
Private 450 (30) 100 (24) 350 (33) <0.01 19 (21) 89 (25) 0.82
Medicaid 989 (67) 297 (72) 692 (65) 31 (74) 262 (72)
Other 39 (3) 14 (3) 25 (2) 2 (5) 12 (3)
Vaccination Status:
Completely vaccinated 710 (50) 149 (37) 561 (54) <0.01 19 (45) 127 (36) 0.52
Partially vaccinated 179 (13) 42 (11) 137 (13) 4 (10) 37 (11)
Unvaccinated 542 (38) 207 (52) 335 (32) 19 (45) 186 (53)
Enrollment Location:
Urgent Care 476 (32) 143 (35) 333 (31) 0.19 14 (29) 129 (36) 0.40
ED 1,002 (68) 268 (65) 734 (69) 30 (71) 234 (64)
Attends daycare/school 867 (59) 284 (69) 583 (55) <0.01 24 (57) 258 (71) 0.06
Test Result:
Influenza B 180 (44) 180 (44) n/a n/a 18 (43) 159 (44) 0.88
Influenza A 229 (56) 229 (56) n/a n/a 24 (57) 202 (56)

a- Chi-square unless otherwise specified

b- b-Student’s T test

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029.t001

Predictors of hospitalization or recurrent ED visit from influenza infection

The bivariable analyses of vital sign data as predictors of hospitalization among children with
ILI and PCR-confirmed influenza illness are shown in Table 2. Temperature, heart rate, oxy-
gen saturation and respiratory rate were significant predictors in bivariable analyses for the ILI
cohort. Of these, clinically meaningful vitals sign data (peak heart rate, respiratory rate z score
and initial oxygen) were used for the multivariable logistic regression models. The first model
included vital signs only, and the second model included other covariates (age, high risk medi-
cal condition and school/daycare attendance) (S1 Table). Results of the multivariable analysis
indicated respiratory rate z score (1.76 (95% CI 1.48–2.10) as a risk factor and high initial oxy-
gen saturation (0.85 (95% CI 0.81–0.89) as a protective factor for hospitalization/recurrent ED
visits among children with ILI. This model had improved discriminatory ability with the inclu-
sion of age, high risk medical condition, and school/daycare attendance as additional covari-
ates (c-index = 0.76) and performance (Scaled Brier score 0.17).
Initial oxygen saturation and initial respiratory rate were significant predictors for severe
influenza infection in bivariable analyses and were subsequently used for the multivariable

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 4 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

Table 2. Predictive value of vital sign data on hospitalization or recurrent ED visit within 72 hours among children with ILI and PCR-confirmed influenza evalu-
ated in an ED and urgent care setting- bivariable analyses.
Variables Total Hospitalized/ Not hospitalized/ p- Influenza Influenza positive Influenza negative not p-
(n = 1454) recurrent ED recurrent ED visit value positive hospitalized Hospitalized/ valuea
visit (n = 1157) (n = 405) /recurrent ED visit recurrent ED visit
(n = 297) value (%) (n = 42) value (%) (n = 363)
value (%)
Duration of fever (days), mean 2.8 (2.1) 3.0 (2.4) 2.7 (2.0) 0.43 2.9 (2.3) 3.9 (3.4) 2.7 (2.1) 0.06
(SD)
Highest temperature in ED/ 38.4 (1.1) 38.6 (1.0) 38.3 (1.1) < .01 38.6 (1.1) 38.9 (1.2) 38.6 (1.1) 0.19
UC, mean (SD)
Initial heart Rate, mean (SD) 143.5 151.5 (23.3) 141.5 (24.2) < .01 138.3 (23.6) 144.3 (25.7) 137.6 (23.3) 0.08
(24.4)
Heart rate during highest 143.5 151.6 (23.2) 141.4 (24.1) < .01 138.3 (23.4) 144.7 (24.8) 137.6 (23.1) 0.06
temperature in ED/UC, mean (24.4)
(SD)
Peak heart rate z score (age/ 0.5 (0.9) 0.7 (1.0) 0.4 (0.9) < .01 0.2 (0.9) 0.4 (0.9) 0.2 (0.9) 0.24
temp adjusted)
Initial heart rate z score (age/ 0.6 (1.0) 0.9 (1.0) 0.5 (0.9) < .01 0.3 (0.9) 0.5 (1.0) 0.3 (0.9) 0.21
temp adjusted), mean (SD)
Initial oxygen Saturation, 95.3 (3.2) 93.3 (4.3) 95.8 (2.7) < .01 95.9 (2.7) 94.6 (3.8) 96.0 (2.5) < .01
mean (SD)
Initial respiratory Rate, mean 35.3 (11.7) 42.5 (14.7) 33.4 (10.0) < .01 31.2 (9.4) 36.1 (13.2) 30.7 (8.7) < .01
(SD)
Initial respiratory rate z score 0.8 (0.9) 1.3 (0.9) 0.7 (0.8) < .01 0.6 (0.8) 1.1 (0.8) 0.6 (0.7) < .01
(age adjusted), mean (SD)

ED—Emergency Department, UC—Urgent Care, SD—standard deviation

a—Student’s T test

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029.t002

logistic regression. In multivariable analyses, among children with influenza infection, only
higher adjusted respiratory rate z score remained a significant predictor of hospitalization or
recurrent ED visits (OR 1.84, 95%CI 1.17–2.90) (Fig 1). However, the model had poor discrim-
ination (c-index = 0.67) and performance (Scaled Brier score = 0.05). For improved model
performance, we conducted analyses using a second model that adjusted for age, high risk co-
morbidities and school or daycare attendance. Initial higher adjusted respiratory rate
remained a significant predictor of hospitalization or recurrent ED visits (OR 1.97 1.22–3.19),
with overall improved discrimination (c-index 0.77) and performance (Scaled Brier score
0.12) (Fig 1).

Discussion
Our observational cohort study of children with influenza like illness being evaluated in the
ED/UC setting demonstrated that higher respiratory rate adjusted for age was the most signifi-
cant vital sign predictor of hospitalization or recurrent ED/UC visits within 72 hours among
young children with PCR-confirmed influenza. While adjusted heart rate during peak temper-
ature and lower oxygen saturation were significant in bivariable analyses, they were no longer
significant in our adjusted analyses. Model performance improved significantly after including
age, high risk co-morbidities and school or daycare attendance. For children with ILI, the
most important vital signs predicting hospitalization among children with ILI were both age
adjusted respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation. Our findings demonstrate that a predictive
model which includes age, respiratory rate z score, high risk co-morbidities and school or

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 5 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

Fig 1. Odds of hospitalization and recurrent ED visits among children with PCR-confirmed influenza using vital sign data as clinical
predictors, model adjusted for age, high risk co-morbidities, school or daycare attendance.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029.g001

daycare attendance can help risk-stratify children with more severe outcomes from influenza
infection.
Early vital sign data predicting more severe outcomes among children with influenza is lim-
ited in the literature. One matched case-control study among outpatients with respiratory
symptoms showed that fever was an independent predictor for influenza, however, the study
did not investigate other vital sign measurements nor its applicability to hospitalization and
severity [16]. Another study of hospitalized children reported that low initial oxygen saturation
at admission predicted the need for intensive care [17], but this was not found to be an inde-
pendent predictor in multivariate analysis. Low oxygen saturation has also been shown to be a
useful predictor of severe outcomes in a respiratory index of severity in children (RISC) score,
which forecasts the probability of death in a young child with lower respiratory tract infection
[24].
Studies of influenza infection in children and adults have similarly demonstrated the value
of respiratory rate in predicting hospitalization. One study evaluating vital signs as predictors
of hospitalization of children and adults with H1N1 influenza, demonstrated that in multivari-
ate regression analyses of all vital signs, tachypnea was a significant risk factor for hospital
admission (OR = 1.1; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.13, p<0.01) [25]. Our findings are also consistent with
another study evaluating adults with H1N1 influenza demonstrating that tachypnea is a signifi-
cant risk factor for hospitalization [26].
Respiratory rate has been shown to be a useful predictor of severity for acute respiratory
infections and pneumonia. For example, children with tachypnea as defined by the World
Health Organization (WHO) respiratory rate thresholds are more likely to have pneumonia
than children without tachypnea [27]. However, using tachypnea as a dichotomous variable

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 6 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

may decrease the overall model performance. While using vital sign z scores rather than the
presence or absence of tachypnea is more complex, it enhances the statistical power over using
a dichotomous threshold, and these data can be effectively used in EHR systems and computer
algorithms to risk-stratify children [28, 29]. The utility of this approach has been shown in
model predictors for identifying children with serious bacterial infections, showing that the
most robust model used age adjusted heart rate and respiratory rates [30].
Other studies have also demonstrated that hypoxia or requirement for oxygen was also an
important risk factor for hospitalization or ICU admission [31, 32], which we found in our
bivariable analyses for influenza-confirmed infection, but after adjusting for other important
covariates, this was no longer significant. Our study suggests that respiratory rate is a more
reliable predictor of influenza severity than oxygen saturation in children, but our findings
may be difficult to interpret since the effects of higher altitude in Colorado may have impacted
the interpretation of oxygen saturation in this study [33–35]. Further, the higher proportion of
hypoxia among children testing negative for influenza likely represented younger children
with RSV infection, which was co-circulating during the enrollment period of our study,
known to be associated with hypoxia in children [36]. The stronger association of hypoxia due
to RSV may also explain why oxygen saturation was a significant predictor for our ILI cohort,
but not for our influenza-confirmed cohort.
Decisions regarding the investigation and treatment of children with influenza and infec-
tion rely on factors such as incidence of influenza in the community and likelihood of severe
disease. Early predictors can help the clinician target testing and treatment to high-risk indi-
viduals, which is especially crucial during times of limited testing capacity, as evidenced by the
current pandemic. Existing respiratory severity assessment scores may underestimate the risk
of influenza severity, especially in younger individuals [37], and therefore a model specific to
influenza is necessary. A predictive model using objective early clinical parameters can be
incorporated in the clinical setting through clinical decision support tools in the EHR, for risk
stratification for influenza infection, which can help to standardize care, while reducing
unnecessary testing and antiviral use. The ED and inpatient floors are potential settings in
which such clinical tools can have a high impact, since the population of interest is sicker, reli-
able testing platforms are available, thus enhancing the diagnosis, prompt initiation of antivi-
rals and ongoing monitoring among those with confirmed influenza infection [38]. Such
clinical guidance would be especially important when resources are limited, as evidenced dur-
ing the COVID-19 pandemic, to help the provider triage the appropriate level of care and
determine appropriate therapies, while conserving resources.
There are several limitations that warrant discussion. First, our study was conducted at a
single center among children evaluated in an ED or UC setting, which may limit its external
validity to other sites and settings. Extrapolation of our clinical prediction tool to other settings
is underway. Our cohort of children with influenza had a low rate of hospitalization, so we
used a composite outcome of hospitalization or recurrent visits, but limited the recurrent visits
to within 72 hours of the index hospitalization. Given the rare outcome, the model was sensi-
tive to overfitting, but when comparing our logistic regression model with 3 covariates com-
pared with 6 covariates, there was little change in the 95% confidence intervals, indicating
stability of our expanded model, which is considered an acceptable analytic approach [39, 40].
Next, we used vital sign data collected during the index visit and were not able to account for
day of illness in our model, and thus our vital sign data was collected during different phases
of the illness course, when they sought care. Our study was conducted in a setting that used
machine-read heart rate and respiratory rate data, but these have been shown to correlate well
with electrocardiograph heart rate and physician measures [41, 42]. Finally, we did not explore

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 7 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

other predictive modeling approaches, such as including influenza results as a covariate in the
ILI model, but will be the subject of future study.
Our study demonstrates the clinical utility of a prediction model that incorporates age, high
risk medical condition, school or daycare attendance and respiratory rate z score in predicting
hospitalization or recurrent ED visits for children aged 6 months to 8 years of age with influ-
enza infection. This study has important implications for researchers as well as clinicians,
because determining early, objective measures that do not require laboratory or radiographic
testing is of high value to help improve the pre-test probability for determining which children
are at risk for higher morbidity, to help guide providers’ clinical decision-making process
regarding testing and treatment. These findings are especially timely during a time when influ-
enza is co-circulating with COVID-19, when there may be shortages in testing reagents,
trained personnel and more restrictive testing capabilities, highlighting an important need to
identify which children should be tested for influenza as well as SARS-CoV-2. Further work
including z score thresholds and external validation is ongoing, but these findings show prom-
ise for use in clinical prediction tools in the ED and hospital setting.

Supporting information
S1 Table. Multivariable logistic regression analyses evaluating association between vital
sign data and hospitalization/recurrent ED visits among children with ILI.
(DOCX)

Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the children and their families who participated in the study
and the ED/Urgent care nurses and laboratory personnel who participated in their care. We
give a special thanks to our study co-ordinators Kathleen Grice and Reagan Miller, the
research assistants Chandini Patel, Nathan Ostlie, Amira Herstic, Tate Closson-Niese, Daniela
Santos and Tony Marshlain, and to Mimi Munroe for her administrative support.

Author Contributions
Conceptualization: Suchitra Rao, Molly Lamb, Bruce L. Innis, Edwin J. Asturias.
Data curation: Molly Lamb.
Formal analysis: Suchitra Rao, Angela Moss, Molly Lamb.
Funding acquisition: Suchitra Rao, Edwin J. Asturias.
Methodology: Suchitra Rao, Molly Lamb, Edwin J. Asturias.
Supervision: Suchitra Rao, Bruce L. Innis.
Validation: Angela Moss.
Writing – original draft: Suchitra Rao.
Writing – review & editing: Angela Moss, Molly Lamb, Bruce L. Innis, Edwin J. Asturias.

References
1. Grohskopf LA, Alyanak E, Broder KR, Walter EB, Fry AM, Jernigan DB. Prevention and Control of Sea-
sonal Influenza with Vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Prac-
tices—United States, 2019–20 Influenza Season. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2019; 68(3):1–21. https://doi.
org/10.15585/mmwr.rr6803a1 PMID: 31441906

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 8 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

2. Thompson WW, Shay DK, Weintraub E, Brammer L, Bridges CB, Cox NJ, et al. Influenza-associated
hospitalizations in the United States. Jama. 2004; 292(11):1333–40. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.292.
11.1333 PMID: 15367555
3. Zhou H, Thompson WW, Viboud CG, Ringholz CM, Cheng PY, Steiner C, et al. Hospitalizations associ-
ated with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus in the United States, 1993–2008. Clinical infectious
diseases: an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 2012; 54(10):1427–36.
4. Dawood FS, Fiore A, Kamimoto L, Nowell M, Reingold A, Gershman K, et al. Influenza-associated
pneumonia in children hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza, 2003–2008. The Pediatric
infectious disease journal. 2010; 29(7):585–90. https://doi.org/10.1097/inf.0b013e3181d411c5 PMID:
20589966
5. Coffin SE, Leckerman K, Keren R, Hall M, Localio R, Zaoutis TE. Oseltamivir shortens hospital stays of
critically ill children hospitalized with seasonal influenza: a retrospective cohort study. The Pediatric
infectious disease journal. 2011; 30(11):962–6. https://doi.org/10.1097/INF.0b013e318232ede9 PMID:
21997661
6. Launes C, Garcia-Garcia JJ, Jordan I, Martinez-Planas A, Selva L, Munoz-Almagro C. 2009 Influenza A
H1N1 infections: delays in starting treatment with oseltamivir were associated with a more severe dis-
ease. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2011; 30(7):622–5. https://doi.org/10.1097/INF.0b013e3182093397 PMID:
21200359
7. Eriksson CO, Graham DA, Uyeki TM, Randolph AG. Risk factors for mechanical ventilation in U.S. chil-
dren hospitalized with seasonal influenza and 2009 pandemic influenza A*. Pediatr Crit Care Med.
2012; 13(6):625–31. https://doi.org/10.1097/PCC.0b013e318260114e PMID: 22895006
8. Call SA, Vollenweider MA, Hornung CA, Simel DL, McKinney WP. Does this patient have influenza?
Jama. 2005; 293(8):987–97. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.293.8.987 PMID: 15728170
9. Ebell MH, White LL, Casault T. A systematic review of the history and physical examination to diagnose
influenza. J Am Board Fam Pract. 2004; 17(1):1–5. https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.17.1.1 PMID:
15014046
10. Stein J, Louie J, Flanders S, Maselli J, Hacker JK, Drew WL, et al. Performance characteristics of clini-
cal diagnosis, a clinical decision rule, and a rapid influenza test in the detection of influenza infection in a
community sample of adults. Ann Emerg Med. 2005; 46(5):412–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
annemergmed.2005.05.020 PMID: 16271670
11. Hsu J, Santesso N, Mustafa R, Brozek J, Chen YL, Hopkins JP, et al. Antivirals for treatment of influ-
enza: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Ann Intern Med. 2012; 156
(7):512–24. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-156-7-201204030-00411 PMID: 22371849
12. Louie JK, Yang S, Samuel MC, Uyeki TM, Schechter R. Neuraminidase inhibitors for critically ill children
with influenza. Pediatrics. 2013; 132(6):e1539–45. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-2149 PMID:
24276847
13. Ison MG. Optimizing antiviral therapy for influenza: understanding the evidence. Expert Rev Anti Infect
Ther. 2015; 13(4):417–25. https://doi.org/10.1586/14787210.2015.1018183 PMID: 25695406
14. Singanayagam A, Singanayagam A, Wood V, Chalmers JD. Factors associated with severe illness in
pandemic 2009 influenza a (H1N1) infection: implications for triage in primary and secondary care. The
Journal of infection. 2011; 63(4):243–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2011.07.014 PMID: 21839111
15. Perez-Padilla R, de la Rosa-Zamboni D, Ponce de Leon S, Hernandez M, Quinones-Falconi F, Bautista
E, et al. Pneumonia and respiratory failure from swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) in Mexico. The New
England journal of medicine. 2009; 361(7):680–9. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa0904252 PMID:
19564631
16. Heinonen S, Peltola V, Silvennoinen H, Vahlberg T, Heikkinen T. Signs and symptoms predicting influ-
enza in children: a matched case-control analysis of prospectively collected clinical data. European jour-
nal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases: official publication of the European Society of Clinical
Microbiology. 2012; 31(7):1569–74.
17. Ma HY, Wu JL, Lu CY, Chen JM, Lee PI, Chang LY, et al. Risk factors associated with severe influenza
virus infections in hospitalized children during the 2013 to 2014 season. Journal of microbiology, immu-
nology, and infection = Wei mian yu gan ran za zhi. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmii.2015.05.015
PMID: 26216185
18. Rao S YE, Moss A, Lamb MM, Schuind A, Bekkat-Berkani B, Innis BL, et al. Evaluation of a new Clinical
Endpoint for Moderate-to-severe Influenza Disease in Children: A Prospective Cohort Study. Journal of
the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (in press). 2019;(in press).
19. Budd ABL, Grohskopf L, Campbell A, Dugan V, Wentworth DE, Brammer L. Manual for the Surveillance
of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases.
20. Grohskopf LA, Sokolow LZ, Broder KR, Walter EB, Bresee JS, Fry AM, et al. Prevention and Control of
Seasonal Influenza with Vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 9 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

Practices—United States, 2017–18 Influenza Season. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2017; 66(2):1–20.
https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.rr6602a1 PMID: 28841201
21. Bonafide CP, Brady PW, Keren R, Conway PH, Marsolo K, Daymont C. Development of heart and
respiratory rate percentile curves for hospitalized children. Pediatrics. 2013; 131(4):e1150–7. https://
doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-2443 PMID: 23478871
22. Daymont C, Bonafide CP, Brady PW. Heart rates in hospitalized children by age and body temperature.
Pediatrics. 2015; 135(5):e1173–81. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-3738 PMID: 25917984
23. Steyerberg EW, Vickers AJ, Cook NR, Gerds T, Gonen M, Obuchowski N, et al. Assessing the perfor-
mance of prediction models: a framework for traditional and novel measures. Epidemiology. 2010; 21
(1):128–38. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e3181c30fb2 PMID: 20010215
24. Reed C, Madhi SA, Klugman KP, Kuwanda L, Ortiz JR, Finelli L, et al. Development of the Respiratory
Index of Severity in Children (RISC) score among young children with respiratory infections in South
Africa. PloS one. 2012; 7(1):e27793. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027793 PMID: 22238570
25. Alshahrani M, Alsubaie A, Alshamsy A, Alkhliwi B, Alshammari H, Alshammari M, et al. Can the emer-
gency department triage category and clinical presentation predict hospitalization of H1N1 patients?
Open Access Emerg Med. 2019; 11:221–8. https://doi.org/10.2147/OAEM.S204110 PMID: 31572026
26. Echevarria-Zuno S, Mejia-Arangure JM, Mar-Obeso AJ, Grajales-Muniz C, Robles-Perez E, Gonzalez-
Leon M, et al. Infection and death from influenza A H1N1 virus in Mexico: a retrospective analysis. Lan-
cet. 2009; 374(9707):2072–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61638-X PMID: 19913290
27. Palafox M, Guiscafre H, Reyes H, Munoz O, Martinez H. Diagnostic value of tachypnoea in pneumonia
defined radiologically. Arch Dis Child. 2000; 82(1):41–5. https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.82.1.41 PMID:
10630911
28. Royston P, Altman DG, Sauerbrei W. Dichotomizing continuous predictors in multiple regression: a bad
idea. Stat Med. 2006; 25(1):127–41. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.2331 PMID: 16217841
29. Naggara O, Raymond J, Guilbert F, Roy D, Weill A, Altman DG. Analysis by categorizing or dichotomiz-
ing continuous variables is inadvisable: an example from the natural history of unruptured aneurysms.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2011; 32(3):437–40. https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.A2425 PMID: 21330400
30. Spruijt B, Vergouwe Y, Nijman RG, Thompson M, Oostenbrink R. Vital signs should be maintained as
continuous variables when predicting bacterial infections in febrile children. J Clin Epidemiol. 2013; 66
(4):453–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2012.09.014 PMID: 23306061
31. Vasoo S, Singh K, Trenholme GM. Predicting need for hospitalization of patients with pandemic (H1N1)
2009, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 2010; 16(10):1594–7. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1610.
091889 PMID: 20875287
32. Dalziel SR, Thompson JM, Macias CG, Fernandes RM, Johnson DW, Waisman Y, et al. Predictors of
severe H1N1 infection in children presenting within Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN):
retrospective case-control study. BMJ. 2013; 347:f4836. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f4836 PMID:
23940290
33. Crocker ME, Hossen S, Goodman D, Simkovich SM, Kirby M, Thompson LM, et al. Effects of high alti-
tude on respiratory rate and oxygen saturation reference values in healthy infants and children younger
than 2 years in four countries: a cross-sectional study. Lancet Glob Health. 2020; 8(3):e362–e73.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30543-1 PMID: 32087173
34. Yaron M, Niermeyer S, Lindgren KN, Honigman B, Strain JD, Cairns CB. Physiologic response to mod-
erate altitude exposure among infants and young children. High Alt Med Biol. 2003; 4(1):53–9. https://
doi.org/10.1089/152702903321488988 PMID: 12713712
35. Ucros S, Granados CM, Castro-Rodriguez JA, Hill CM. Oxygen Saturation in Childhood at High Altitude:
A Systematic Review. High Alt Med Biol. 2020; 21(2):114–25. https://doi.org/10.1089/ham.2019.0077
PMID: 32239983
36. Darville T, Yamauchi T. Respiratory syncytial virus. Pediatr Rev. 1998; 19(2):55–61. https://doi.org/10.
1542/pir.19-2-55 PMID: 9473944
37. Pereira JM, Moreno RP, Matos R, Rhodes A, Martin-Loeches I, Cecconi M, et al. Severity assessment
tools in ICU patients with 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pneumonia. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2012; 18
(10):1040–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-0691.2011.03736.x PMID: 22264290
38. Kappen TH, van Loon K, Kappen MA, van Wolfswinkel L, Vergouwe Y, van Klei WA, et al. Barriers and
facilitators perceived by physicians when using prediction models in practice. Journal of clinical epide-
miology. 2016; 70:136–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2015.09.008 PMID: 26399905
39. van Smeden M, de Groot JA, Moons KG, Collins GS, Altman DG, Eijkemans MJ, et al. No rationale for
1 variable per 10 events criterion for binary logistic regression analysis. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2016;
16(1):163. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-016-0267-3 PMID: 27881078

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 10 / 11

PLOS ONE Vital sign predictors of influenza severity

40. Vittinghoff E, McCulloch CE. Relaxing the rule of ten events per variable in logistic and Cox regression.
Am J Epidemiol. 2007; 165(6):710–8. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwk052 PMID: 17182981
41. Iyriboz Y, Powers S, Morrow J, Ayers D, Landry G. Accuracy of pulse oximeters in estimating heart rate
at rest and during exercise. Br J Sports Med. 1991; 25(3):162–4. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.25.3.162
PMID: 1777787
42. Alwadhi V, Sarin E, Kumar P, Saboth P, Khera A, Gupta S, et al. Measuring accuracy of plethysmogra-
phy based respiratory rate measurement using pulse oximeter at a tertiary hospital in India. Pneumonia
(Nathan). 2020; 12:4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41479-020-00067-2 PMID: 32518740

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272029 August 12, 2022 11 / 11