Conclusion
In this study we demonstrated that fever response 1-hr after administration of acetaminophen can be used to predict bacteremia among pediatric cancer patients presenting with FN. We modeled this using both binary logistic regression and CART machine learning analysis with AUC-ROC of 0.70 and 0.71 respectively. While unlikely to provide sufficient predictive value to impact clinical decision making in isolation, our results highlight a promising, objective, and novel means of prompt FN risk stratification that has the potential to be used across a multitude of clinical settings. Future prospective, large cohort, multicenter studies are needed to ultimately assess the utility of fever responsiveness in the risk stratification in FN.
Conflicts of interest: None