Factors Predicting Mortality in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in a Tertiary Care Center Southwest Region, Saudi Arabia

Pediatric intensive care units (PICU) aim at promoting qualified care with the objective of achieving the best results and better progress for critically ill children. Mortality is the most frequently assessed outcome in PICU. This study was carried out to assess the factors contributing to the patient mortality in our PICU, including PRISM III and other predicting factors. This is a retrospective medical record review study. We reviewed and analyzed all files for pediatric patients who were admitted to the PICU at Aseer Central Hospital (ACH), during the period from January 2006 till December 2008. A total of 171 patients fulfilled the eligible criteria for inclusion. During the study period 171 patients were admitted to the PICU, of whom 64 (37.4%) died. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, considering those who did not need mechanical ventilation as a reference category, those who needed mechanical ventilation were almost three times more likely to die in the ICU (adjusted OR: 3.44, 95% CI: 1.01-11.69). Children who had total parenteral nutrition were almost three-folded more likely to die in the ICU than those who had no total parenteral nutrition (adjusted OR: 2.87, 95% CI: 1.06-7.74). Those with higher PRISM III scores were more likely to die and this probability of dying increase steadily with increase of PRISM III score. High PRISM III score, application of mechanical ventilator and total parenteral nutrition were significantly associated with higher mortality rate in PICU.