Predictors of outcome in children with disorders of mitochondrial metabolism in the pediatric intensive care unit

Defining Pediatric Chronic Critical Illness: A Scoping Review

OBJECTIVES

Children with chronic critical illness (CCI) are hypothesized to be a high-risk patient population with persistent multiple organ dysfunction and functional morbidities resulting in recurrent or prolonged critical care; however, it is unclear how CCI should be defined. The aim of this scoping review was to evaluate the existing literature for case definitions of pediatric CCI and case definitions of prolonged PICU admission and to explore the methodologies used to derive these definitions.

DATA SOURCES

Four electronic databases (Ovid Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science) from inception to March 3, 2021.

STUDY SELECTION

We included studies that provided a specific case definition for CCI or prolonged PICU admission. Crowdsourcing was used to screen citations independently and in duplicate. A machine-learning algorithm was developed and validated using 6,284 citations assessed in duplicate by trained crowd reviewers. A hybrid of crowdsourcing and machine-learning methods was used to complete the remaining citation screening.

DATA EXTRACTION

We extracted details of case definitions, study demographics, participant characteristics, and outcomes assessed.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Sixty-seven studies were included. Twelve studies (18%) provided a definition for CCI that included concepts of PICU length of stay (n = 12), medical complexity or chronic conditions (n = 9), recurrent admissions (n = 9), technology dependence (n = 5), and uncertain prognosis (n = 1). Definitions were commonly referenced from another source (n = 6) or opinion-based (n = 5). The remaining 55 studies (82%) provided a definition for prolonged PICU admission, most frequently greater than or equal to 14 (n = 11) or greater than or equal to 28 days (n = 10). Most of these definitions were derived by investigator opinion (n = 24) or statistical method (n = 18).

CONCLUSIONS

Pediatric CCI has been variably defined with regard to the concepts of patient complexity and chronicity of critical illness. A consensus definition is needed to advance this emerging and important area of pediatric critical care research.

Meta-Analysis for the Prediction of Mortality Rates in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Using Different Scores: PRISM-III/IV, PIM-3, and PELOD-2

Introduction: The risk of mortality is higher in pediatric intensive care units (PICU). To prevent mortality in critically ill infants, optimal clinical management and risk stratification are required. Aims and Objectives: To assess the accuracy of PELOD-2, PIM-3, and PRISM-III/IV scores to predict outcomes in pediatric patients. Results: A total of 29 studies were included for quantitative synthesis in meta-analysis. PRISM-III/IV scoring showed pooled sensitivity of 0.78; 95% CI: 0.72-0.83 and pooled specificity of 0.75; 95% CI: 0.68-0.81 with 84% discrimination performance (SROC 0.84, 95% CI: 0.80-0.87). In the case of PIM-3, pooled sensivity 0.75; 95% CI 0.71-0.79 and pooled specificity 0.76; 95% CI 0.73-0.79 were observed with good discrimination power (SROC, 0.82, 95% CI 0.78-0.85). PELOD-2 scoring system had pooled sensitivity of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.71-0.83) and combined specificity of 0.75 (95% CI: 0.68-0.81), as well as good discriminating ability (SROC 0.83, 95% CI: 0.80-0.86) for mortality prediction in PICU patients. Conclusion: PRISM-III/IV, PIM-3, and PELOD-2 had good performance for mortality prediction in PICU but with low to moderate certainty of evidence. More well-designed studies are needed for the validation of the study results.