Clinicians may not always agree on identifying common signs of pneumonia, like wheezing and retractions
TUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Clinicians may not agree on physical exam findings for youth with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), according to a study published online Aug. 20 in JAMA Network Open.
Shubhada Hooli, M.D., from Texas Children”s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues examined the interrater reliability (IRR) of physical examination findings in youth diagnosed with CAP. The analysis included 252 youth (aged 3 months to 17 years) with CAP.
The researchers found that no physical examination finding met predefined significance for IRR. The highest IRR was seen for wheezing (κ = 0.50) and retractions (κ = 0.49). IRRs of physical examinations were similar for youth discharged home and those who were hospitalized.
“Doctors rely heavily on what they hear when listening to a child”s lungs, but our study shows that two doctors can examine the same child and come away with different findings,” senior author Todd Florin, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said in a statement. “This can make diagnosing pneumonia challenging and points to the need for better tools to help us make these decisions.”
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