A Predictive Model for Thiamine Responsive Disorders among Infants and Young Children: Results from a Prospective Cohort Study in Lao People's Democratic Republic.
The Journal of pediatrics 2024
Smith TJ, Arnold CD, Fischer PR, Trehan I, Hiffler L, Sitthideth D, Stein-Wexler R, Yeh J, Jones KS, Hampel D, Tancredi DJ, Schick MA, McBeth CN, Tan X, Allen LH, Sayasone S, Kounnavong S, Hess SY
DOI : 10.1016/j.jpeds.2024.113961
PubMed ID : 38369233
PMCID :
URL : https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022347624000647
Abstract
To develop a predictive model for thiamine responsive disorders (TRD) among infants and young children hospitalized with signs or symptoms suggestive of thiamine deficiency disorders (TDD) based on response to therapeutic thiamine in a high-risk setting.
Children aged 21 days to <18 months hospitalized with signs or symptoms suggestive of TDD in northern Lao PDR were treated with parenteral thiamine (100mg daily) for ≥3 days in addition to routine care. Physical examinations and recovery assessments were conducted frequently for 72 hours after thiamine was initiated. Individual case reports were independently reviewed by three pediatricians who assigned a TRD status (TRD or non-TRD), which served as the dependent variable in logistic regression models to identify predictors of TRD. Model performance was quantified by empirical area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC).
449 children (median [Q1, Q3] 2.9 [1.7, 5.7] months old; 70.3% exclusively/predominantly breastfed) were enrolled; 60.8% had a TRD. Among 52 candidate variables, those most predictive of TRD were exclusive/predominant breastfeeding, hoarse voice/loss of voice, cyanosis, no eye contact and no diarrhea in the previous 2 weeks. The AUROC (95% CI) was 0.82 (0.78, 0.86).
In this study, the majority of children with signs or symptoms of TDD responded favorably to thiamine. While five specific features were predictive of TRD, the high prevalence of TRD suggests that thiamine should be administered to all infants and children presenting with any signs or symptoms consistent with TDD in similar high-risk settings. The usefulness of the predictive model in other contexts warrants further exploration and refinement.