Background The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) traffic light system uses children’s symptoms and signs to categorise acute infections into red, amber and green. To our knowledge, no study has described the proportion of children with acute undifferentiated illness who fall into these categories in primary care, which is important since red and amber children are considered at higher risk of serious illness requiring urgent secondary care assessment. Aim To estimate the proportion of acutely unwell children presenting to primary care classified by the NICE traffic light system as red, amber or green, and to describe their initial management. Design and setting Secondary analysis of the Diagnosis of Urinary Tract infection in Young children prospective cohort study. Method 6797 children under 5 years presenting to 225 general practices with acute undifferentiated illness were retrospectively mapped to the NICE traffic light system by a panel of general practitioners. Results 6406 (94%) children were classified as NICE red (32%) or amber (62%) with 1.6% red and 0.3%, respectively, referred the same day for hospital assessment; and 46% and 31%, respectively, treated with antibiotics. The remaining 385 (6%) were classified green, with none referred and 27% treated with antibiotics. Results were robust to sensitivity analyses. Conclusion The majority of children presenting to UK primary care with acute undifferentiated illness meet red or amber NICE traffic light criteria,with only 6% classified as low risk, making it unfit for use in general practice. Research is urgently needed to establish as triage system suitable for general practice. No data are available. .

中文翻译：

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NICE 交通灯系统是否适合初级保健中患有未分化急性疾病的儿童？

背景 美国国家临床卓越研究所 (NICE) 交通灯系统使用儿童的症状和体征将急性感染分为红色、琥珀色和绿色。据我们所知，没有研究描述在初级保健中属于这些类别的急性未分化疾病儿童的比例，这很重要，因为红色和琥珀色儿童被认为具有更高的严重疾病风险，需要紧急二级保健评估。目的 估计被 NICE 交通信号灯系统分类为红色、琥珀色或绿色的急性不适儿童在初级保健中的比例，并描述他们的初始管理。设计和设置幼儿前瞻性队列研究中尿路感染诊断的二次分析。方法 由全科医生小组回顾性地将 6797 名 5 岁以下儿童接受 225 例急性未分化疾病的全科治疗映射到 NICE 交通灯系统。结果 6406 名 (94%) 的儿童被分类为 NICE 红色 (32%) 或琥珀色 (62%)，分别为红色 1.6% 和 0.3%，当天转诊至医院评估；分别有 46% 和 31% 接受抗生素治疗。其余 385 例（6%）被归类为绿色，没有转诊，27% 用抗生素治疗。结果对敏感性分析是稳健的。结论 大多数接受英国初级保健的急性未分化疾病儿童符合红色或琥珀色 NICE 交通灯标准，只有 6% 被归类为低风险，因此不适合在一般实践中使用。迫切需要研究建立适合一般实践的分诊系统。没有可用的数据。.