Predicting adjacent infections in pediatric septic arthritis: Do predictive criteria extrapolate across geographic regions?: Predicting Periarticular Infection in the Southeast

Purpose This study aims to assess previously determined predictive criteria for presence of adjacent infection in septic arthritis within a Southeastern United States (US) pediatric population. Results The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the Rosenfeld criteria were: 91.7%, 22.7%, 39.3%, and 83.3%, respectively. The patients with periarticular infection were more likely to have positive blood cultures than those with isolated septic arthritis. There was no difference in likelihood of secondary surgical intervention. Conclusions Previously defined criteria to predict adjacent infection in pediatric septic arthritis did not demonstrate external validity in a Southeastern US pediatric population.