Table 1:

Description of included studies

Authors	Study period	Country	Setting	Aim	Study design	Reference test	Presenting signs and symptoms	Age range, yr	n	Group A streptococcus, %
Forsyth36	Not reported	USA	Unclear	Derivation	Prospective multicentre	Throat culture	Unsolicited complaint of sore throat < 1 wk duration	≤ 14^*	234	30.3^*
Breese39	1973–1975	USA	Office-based	Update, external validation	Prospective multicentre	Throat culture	Acute respiratory illness	Unclear	3877	Unclear
Fujikawa et al.41	1982–1983	Japan	Pediatrics department	Derivation	Prospective single centre	Throat culture	Acute upper respiratory infection and suspicion of bacterial infection	Unclear	271	39.9
Wald et al.42	1990–1992	USA	Emergency department and walk-in clinic	Derivation	Prospective single centre	Throat culture	Acute onset of sore throat (< 48 h duration), history of fever (tactile) or a documented oral temperature ≥ 38.3°C at presentation or within the preceding 24 h	2–16	365	48
Edmond et al.38	1994–1995	Australia	Emergency department	Derivation	Prospective single centre	Throat culture	Pharyngitis on examination by junior medical staff	Unclear	271	21
McIsaac et al.40	1995–1997	Canada	Family medicine centre	Derivation, internal validation	Prospective single centre	Throat culture	New upper respiratory tract infection with a recorded diagnosis of pharyngitis or tonsillitis	3–14^*	94	36.2^*
Attia et al.43	1999–2000	USA	Emergency department, 2 pediatric outpatient clinics	Update, external validation	Prospective multicentre	Throat culture	Acute pharyngitis	1–18	587	37
Joachim et al.37	2007–2008	Brazil	2 emergency departments, 1 medical unit	Update	Prospective multicentre	Throat culture or rapid antigen detection testing	Acute pharyngitis	0–15	356	33

↵* Studies involved both adults and children; the numbers reported here are for the pediatric populations, as defined by the authors.