Predicting operative bleeding in elective pediatric surgeries using the Pediatric Bleeding Questionnaire (PBQ).

To test the Pediatric Bleeding Questionnaire's (PBQ) utility for predicting excessive bleeding during elective surgery, we retrospectively evaluated 60 pediatric patients who had been preoperatively investigated for von Willebrand disease. Of 58 patients with bleeding scores (BS) ≤2 (within normal range), 1 hemorrhaged during surgery. Two had a BS of >2 (positive BS); however, neither bled excessively during surgery. The resulting sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values of the PBQ are 0%, 97%, 0%, and 98%, respectively. On the basis of this small sample, we cannot recommend the PBQ for screening in this setting.