Background: Distinguishing serious bacterial infection (SBI) from milder/self-limiting infections is often difficult. Interpretation of vital signs is confounded by the effect of temperature on pulse and respiratory rate. Temperature-pulse centile charts have been proposed to improve the predictive value of pulse rate in the clinical assessment of children with suspected SBI. OBJECTIVES: To assess the utility of proposed temperature-pulse centile charts in the clinical assessment of children with suspected SBI. Published: 2011.