Clinical profile and outcome in a paediatric intensive care unit in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Paediatric critical care medicine is a relatively new subspecialty in Pakistan. The clinical profile and outcomes of children admitted in the PICU [paediatric intensive care unit] were retrospectively reviewed from January to December 2007. Mean age of the studied 314 patients was 24 months; 37% were less than one-year-old and 66% was male. Mean PRISM score was 13.2. There were almost equal distribution of medical [46%] and surgical [54%] cases. Ninety percent of patients received mechanical ventilation, while more than 50% received vasoactive drugs. The rate of nosocomial infection was 4.7%. The average length of PICU stay was 3.2 [1-49] days. The overall mortality rate was 14%. The results are encouraging and efforts should be made to establish more PICUs