Wu J, Wang X, Zhou M, et al. - Researchers investigated whether blood biomarkers, clinical symptoms and their combination can aid in discrimination of pneumonia from upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in children.

• Researchers compared the clinical features and levels of blood biomarkers between children diagnosed with pneumonia and those with URTI.

• The pneumonia screening model was created based on a retrospective cohort, comprised of 5,211 children (age ≤ 18 years), using both univariate and multivariate logistic regressions.

• In the retrospective cohort, pneumonia was diagnosed in 2,548 of 5,211 children.

• Combining LMR and NLR with three clinical symptoms of fever, cough and rhinorrhea, researchers retrieved the multivariate screening model reaching promising accuracy in discriminating pneumonia from URTI; hence this model could be considered as a valuable screening tool to assist the diagnosis of pneumonia, in particular, in community healthcare centers.