Publications by authors named "Tracy Balentine"
Background: Recommendations vary regarding immediate antimicrobial treatment versus watchful waiting for children younger than 2 years of age with acute otitis media.
Methods: We randomly assigned 291 children 6 to 23 months of age, with acute otitis media diagnosed with the use of stringent criteria, to receive amoxicillin-clavulanate or placebo for 10 days. We measured symptomatic response and rates of clinical failure.
Methods: Before and after introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7), the authors obtained nasopharyngeal (NP) specimens from 3 groups of children aged 6 to 23 months with acute otitis media (AOM): group 1 (pre-PCV7), group 2 (early post-PCV7), and group 3 (late post-PCV7).
Results: Of the Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates, the proportion that were vaccine serotypes (VTs) declined progressively (60.4% vs 48.
Unlabelled: The objective of this study was to determine how parents of preverbal children determine whether their child is having otalgia. We constructed 8 cases describing a 1-year-old child with acute otitis media (AOM) using various combinations of the following 6 observable symptoms: fussiness, ear tugging, eating less, fever, sleeping difficulty, and playing less. Parents of children with a history of AOM presenting for well or sick appointments to an ambulatory clinic were asked to assign a pain level to each case on a visual analog scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective of this study was to develop a patient-reported outcome measure (Strep-PRO) for assessing symptoms of group A Streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis from the child's point of view and to present preliminary data on its internal reliability, construct validity, and responsiveness.
Methods: We selected 8 symptoms for inclusion in the Strep-PRO. We used the Strep-PRO to assess improvement in children who were aged 5 to 15 years and had confirmed GAS pharyngitis.