PERCH Publications

PERCH has produced numerous publications detailing the rationale for the study design and analytic methods, preparatory analyses conducted to support the etiology analyses, and additional subanalyses exploring topics such as pathogen-specific results and digital auscultation of lung sounds.

Primary Results papers (submitted)

• Clinical and microbiological findings among children with serious pneumonia from Africa and Asia: The Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) Case-Control Study
• Aetiology of serious hospitalised pneumonia in HIV-uninfected children from Africa and Asia: Integrated Analysis of the PERCH Case-Control Study

Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH): The Foundational Basis for the Primary Etiology Results

A journal supplement (June 2017, Clinical Infectious Diseases) containing 23 manuscripts, including 2 commentaries, providing background for the primary PERCH etiology analyses.  The articles fall into three categories (contextual, preparatory analyses, and methods descriptions), each of which is aimed at creating visibility into the epidemiologic and analytic thinking on PERCH, offering the lens through which challenges and opportunities were approached given what had come before in the field.

Introductory Papers

• Introduction to the Epidemiologic Considerations, Analytic Methods, and Foundational Results From the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Study
• PERCH in Perspective: What Can It Teach Us About Pneumonia Etiology in Children?

Contextualizing Papers

• The enduring challenge of determining pneumonia etiology in children
• Addressing the analytic challenges of cross-sectional pediatric pneumonia etiology data
• Should controls with respiratory symptoms be excluded in case-control studies of pneumonia etiology? Reflections from the PERCH Study

Methodologic Papers

• Bayesian Estimation of Pneumonia Etiology: Epidemiologic Considerations and Applications to the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Study
• Standardization of clinical assessment and sample collection across all PERCH study sites
• Data Management and Data Quality in The Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Study, a large international case-control study of severe childhood pneumonia
• Standardization of Laboratory Methods for the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Study
• The standardized interpretation of chest radiographs in cases of pediatric pneumonia from the PERCH study

Preparatory Analyses

• Chest radiograph findings in childhood pneumonia cases from the multi-site PERCH study
• Microscopic Analysis and Quality Assessment of Induced Sputum from Children with Pneumonia in the PERCH Study
• The Diagnostic Utility of Induced Sputum Microscopy and Culture in Childhood Pneumonia
• Limited Utility of Polymerase Chain Reaction in Induced Sputum Specimens for Determining the Causes of Childhood Pneumonia in Resource-Poor Settings: Findings From the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) Study
• Safety of induced sputum collection in children hospitalized with severe or very severe pneumonia
• The Incremental Value of Repeat Induced Sputum and Gastric Aspirate Samples for the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Young Children with Acute Community-Acquired Pneumonia
• Density of upper respiratory colonization with Streptococcus pneumoniae and its role in the diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among children aged <5 years in the PERCH Study
• Colonization density of the upper respiratory tract as a predictor of pneumonia – Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pneumocystis jirovecii, and cytomegalovirus
• Is higher viral load in the upper respiratory tract predictive of severe pneumonia? Findings from the PERCH study
• Detection of pneumococcal DNA in blood by PCR for diagnosing pneumococcal pneumonia in young children from low and middle income countries
• Evaluation of pneumococcal load in blood by PCR for the diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia in young children in the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) study
• The effect of antibiotic exposure and specimen volume on the detection of pathogens in children with pneumonia
• Association of C-reactive protein (CRP) with bacterial and viral pneumonia among children aged <5 years in the PERCH Study

Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health 2012 Methods Supplement

A journal supplement (April 2012, Clinical Infectious Diseases) containing 16 manuscripts, including 2 commentaries, providing the rationale for the epidemiologic, clinical, laboratory, and statistical design components of the study.  The papers present the key decision points and justifications for the study design, including background documentation and literature reviews that formed the basis of those decisions.  Additional papers describe issues related to the study, such as bioethical considerations for conducting pneumonia research in developing countries and an approach to post-mortem specimen collection, as well as results from two pilot pneumonia etiology studies in Kenya and New Caledonia.

• Introduction
• Childhood Pneumonia as a Global Health Priority and the Strategic Interest of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• The Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Project: A 21st Century Childhood Pneumonia Etiology Study
• A Literature Review and Survey of Childhood Pneumonia Etiology Studies: 2000-2010
• The Definition of Pneumonia, the Assessment of Severity, and Clinical Standardization in the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Study
• Identification and Selection of Cases and Controls in the The Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Project
• Evaluation of Risk Factors for Severe Pneumonia in Children: Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Study
• Specimen Collection for the Diagnosis of Pediatric Pneumonia
• Procedures for Collection for Induced Sputum Specimens From Children
• Laboratory Methods for Determining Pneumonia Etiology in Children
• Use and Evaluation of Molecular Diagnostics for Pneumonia Etiology Studies
• Disk Diffusion Bioassays for the Detection of Antibiotic Activity in Body Fluids: Applications for the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Project
• The Role of Postmortem Studies in Pneumonia Etiology Research
• Bioethical Considerations in Developing a Biorepository for the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Project
• Lower Respiratory Infections Among Hospitalized Children in New Caledonia: a Pilot Study for the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health Project
• A Preliminary Study of Pneumonia Etiology Among Hospitalized Children in Kenya

Additional Publications

• Evaluation of fast-track diagnostics and TaqMan array card real-time PCR assays for the detection of respiratory pathogens
• Partially-Latent Class Models (pLCM) for Case-Control Studies of Childhood Pneumonia Etiology
• Nested partially latent class models for dependent binary data; estimating disease etiology
• Listening panel agreement and characteristics of lung sounds digitally recorded from children aged 1-59 months enrolled in the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) case-control study
• Adaptive noise suppression of pediatric lung auscultation with real applications to noisy clinical settings in developing countries
• Computerized Lung Sound Screening for Pediatric Auscultation in Noisy Field Environments
• Arsenic Exposure is Associated with Pediatric Pneumonia in Rural Bangladesh: A Case Control Study
• A clinical guidance tool to improve the care of children hospitalized with severe pneumonia in Lusaka, Zambia
• Pertussis-Associated Pneumonia in Infants and Children from Low- and Middle-Income Countries Participating in the PERCH Study