Epidemiology of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Single-center Experience

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by dysregulated inflammation resulting in hypoxemia and respiratory failure and causes both morbidity and mortality. Objectives: To describe the clinical profile, outcome, and predictors of mortality in ARDS in children admitted to the Pediatric intensive care unit. Materials and methods: This is a single-center retrospective study conducted at a tertiary referral hospital in a 12-bed PICU involving children (1 month to 18 years) with ARDS as defined by Pediatric Acute Lung Injury Consensus Conference (PALICC) guidelines, over a period of 5 years (2016-2020). Demographic, clinical, and laboratory details at onset and during PICU stay were collected. Predictors of mortality were compared between survivors and non-survivors. Results: We identified 89 patients with ARDS.The median age at presentation was 76 months (12-124 months). The most common precipitating factor was pneumonia (66%).The majority of children (35.9%) had moderate ARDS. Overall mortality was 33% with more than half belonging to severe ARDS group (58%). On Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis, the mean time to death was shorter in the severe ARDS group as compared to other groups. Multiorgan dysfunction was present in 46 (51.6%) of the cases. Non-survivors had higher mean pediatric logistic organ dysfunction (PELOD2) on day 1. PRISM III at admission, worsening trends of ventilator and oxygenation parameters (OI, P/F, MAR and PEEP) independently predicted mortality after multivariate analysis. Conclusion: High PRISM score predicts poor outcome, and worsening trends of ventilator and oxygenation parameters (OI, P/F, MAP, and PEEP) are associated with mortality.