Pediatric Sequential Organ Assessment Score: A Comprehensive Review of the Prognostic Marker in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Critically ill children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) face a substantial risk of morbidity and mortality, regardless of whether they are in developed or developing countries. To aid in treatment planning, various prognostic scoring systems have been developed to predict the likelihood of morbidity and death in these young patients. While the sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score has been validated as an independent risk predictor for adult mortality in cases of confirmed or suspected sepsis, it is not suitable for use in children due to its lack of age normalization. Children in critical condition often exhibit significant deviations from the normal physiological balance of their bodies. These deviations from the typical range of physiological variables can be leveraged to estimate the extent of these variations and create scoring systems. In this context, the pediatric SOFA (pSOFA) score was developed by modifying the original SOFA score and incorporating age-adjusted cutoffs for various bodily systems. The objective of this review is to assess the effectiveness of the pSOFA score in predicting sepsis-related mortality in pediatric patients within the PICU setting.