Journal of clinical epidemiology
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To systematically identify clinical prediction rules (CPRs) for children with suspected appendicitis and compare their methodological quality and performance. ⋯ The PAS and Alvarado scores were the most well validated but neither met the current performance benchmarks. A high quality, well validated, and consistently high-performing CPR was not identified. Further research is needed before a CPR for children with suspected appendicitis can be used in routine practice.