title: Pediatric sepsis definitions: past, present, and future.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the past, present, and future definitions of sepsis and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome in children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of the literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The history and development of the adult-derived sepsis syndrome and its application to pediatric-specific sepsis definitions is provided. Initially, only adult definitions were applied to pediatric studies. Recently, pediatric-specific definitions have been published. The pediatric consensus conference-derived definitions for systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock are summarized, and their limitations are discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The potential value and inconsistencies of the current pediatric-specific sepsis definitions are discussed. Future direction of the definitions and their applications are presented.
authors.affiliation: Division of Critical Care Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Brilli
authors.forename: Brahm
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D018805:Sepsis / Q000145:classification*; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000145:classification; D018746:Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / Q000145:classification; D009626:Terminology as Topic