{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T13:09:11Z","timestamp":1791896951016,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,8]],"date-time":"2025-04-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1744070400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Fundaci\u00f3 La Marat\u00f3 tv3","award":["202134-30-31"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202134-30-31"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: Respiratory viral infections, including those caused by SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza viruses, rhinovirus, and adenovirus, are major causes of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in children. Symptom-based predictive models are valuable tools for expediting diagnoses, particularly in primary care settings. This study assessed the effectiveness of machine learning-based models in estimating infection probabilities for these common pediatric respiratory viruses, using symptom data. (2) Methods: Data were collected from 868 children with ARI symptoms evaluated across 14 primary care centers, members of COPEDICAT (Coronavirus Pediatria Catalunya), from October 2021 to October 2023. Random forest and boosting models with 10-fold cross-validation were used, applying SMOTE-NC to address class imbalance. Model performance was evaluated via area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, and Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) values for feature importance. (3) Results: The model performed better for RSV (AUC: 0.81, sensitivity: 0.64, specificity: 0.77) and influenza viruses (AUC: 0.71, sensitivity: 0.70, specificity: 0.59) and effectively ruled out SARS-CoV-2 based on symptom absence, such as crackles and wheezing. Predictive performance was lower for non-enveloped viruses like rhinovirus and adenovirus, due to their nonspecific symptom profiles. SHAP analysis identified key symptoms patterns for each virus. (4) Conclusions: The study demonstrated that symptom-based predictive models effectively identify pediatric respiratory infections, with notable accuracy for those caused by RSV, SARS-CoV-2, and influenza viruses.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v17040546","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]],"date-time":"2025-04-09T07:49:02Z","timestamp":1744184942000},"page":"546","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Implementing Symptom-Based Predictive Models for Early Diagnosis of Pediatric Respiratory Viral Infections"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9613-7228","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antoni","family":"Soriano-Arandes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunodeficiencies Unit, Children\u2019s Hospital, Vall d\u2019Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, 08035 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Infection and Immunity in Pediatric Patients, Vall d\u2019Hebron Research Institute, 08035 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristina","family":"Andr\u00e9s","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Respiratory Virus Unit, Microbiology Department, Vall d\u2032Hebron Research Institute, Vall d\u2032Hebron University Hospital, Vall d\u2032Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, 08035 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6057-5127","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aida","family":"Perramon-Malavez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computational Biology and Complex Systems (BIOCOM-SC) Group, Department of Physics, Barcelona School of Agri-Food and Biosystems Engineering, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, 08860 Castelldefels, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9861-5550","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna","family":"Creus-Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infection and Immunity in Pediatric Patients, Vall d\u2019Hebron Research Institute, 08035 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Children\u2019s Hospital, Vall d\u2019Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, 08035 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Gatell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Equip Pediatria Territorial Garraf, 08812 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ramona","family":"Mart\u00edn-Mart\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CAP Mari\u00e0 Fortuny, Reus, 43205 Tarragona, 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