Incidence of morbidity and associated factors in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Introduction. The Functional Status Scale (FSS) was developed to measure acquired morbidity in pediatric patients. Objective. To estimate the incidence of acquired morbidity in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and the presence of associated factors, and describe functional status after hospital discharge. Population and methods. Prospective cohort. All PICU admissions between August 2016 and July 2017. The FSS was used to measure acquired morbidity during hospitalization and up to 1 year after discharge. A univariate analysis was performed to investigate morbidity-associated factors. Results. A total of 842 patients were included. The incidence of morbidity at the PICU was 3.56 % (30/842) and persisted at 0.7 % for the entire cohort at hospital discharge (6/842). Within 1 year after discharge, the functional status of 3/6 patients improved. The univariate analysis showed an association between acquired morbidity at the PICU and the PIM2 score (odds ratio [OR]: 1.04; 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.07; p = 0.007), age younger than 1 year (OR: 2.93; 95 % CI: 1.36-6.15; p = 0.004), the use of assisted mechanical ventilation (AMV) (OR: 7.83; 95 % CI: 3.31-18.49; p = 0.0001) and central venous catheter (CVC) (OR: 38.08; 95% CI: 5.16-280.95; p = 0.0001), and prolonged hospital stays (OR: 9.65; 95 % CI: 4.33-21.49; p = 0.0001). Conclusions. The incidence of morbidity was 3.56 % and was associated with an age younger than 1 year, patient severity at the time of admission, the use of AMV and CVC, and prolonged hospital stays.