Author Of 1 Presentation
FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME OF PAEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (PICU) ADMISSIONS - A SINGLE TERTIARY CENTRE PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
Abstract
Background
As PICU survival improves, long term functional outcome has evolved to be a vital benchmark for quality of paediatric critical care.
Objectives
This study aims to evaluate functional status of children after PICU admission and their recovery trajectory.
Methods
Patients aged one month to eighteen years old with longer than 24 hours PICU stay were included in the study. Death, absence of parental consent and/or inability to communicate for follow-up were excluded. We documented patients' clinical course of PICU stay, baseline function and functional status at PICU and hospital discharge using the Functional Status Scale (FSS); this was also used during follow-up at one, three and six months post hospital discharge via phone interview with the parents.
Results
116 patients were recruited within a six-month period; 75 of them (65%) completed the six months follow-up. Respiratory failure (42.2%) and neurological emergencies (19.8%) were the commonest causes of admission. Existing functional impairment was present in 21.6% of patients and chronic co-morbidities was in 47.4%. At hospital discharge, abnormal functional status was observed in 51.7% of patients; motor dysfunction being the commonest. New morbidity (increase in FSS of ≥ 3) was seen in 22% of patients. Recovery was most apparent at one-month follow-up and 9.3% of them persist to have new morbidity at six-month. Those with new morbidity had longer PICU-stay, ventilator-day and more common among patients without pre-existing co-morbidity.
Conclusion
New morbidity is common in children admitted into our PICU. Improvement is seen in majority of them within six months.