Do outcomes vary according to the source of admission to the pediatric intensive care unit?
OBJECTIVE
To examine associations between mortality, length of stay, and the sources of admission to tertiary pediatric intensive care.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.


METHODS
A tertiary medical center with a 16-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit and a 15-bed cardiac pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).


METHODS
All admissions from July 1, 1998, through June 30, 2004. Multivariable regression methods compared length of stay and mortality between the sources of PICU admission, controlling for multiple variables, including severity of illness.


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
Of 8,897 eligible admissions, 74% were directly from the study hospital's emergency department or operating rooms, while 26% were from indirect sources, including the study hospital's wards (11%) or interhospital transfer from either non-PICU (12%) or PICU settings (3%). Compared with emergency department admissions, ward admissions had higher odds of mortality (odds ratio 1.65, 95% confidence interval 1.08-2.51), transfer admissions from non-PICU settings did not have elevated odds of mortality (odds ratio 0.80, 95% confidence interval 0.51-1.25), and inter-PICU transfer admissions had higher odds of mortality (odds ratio 1.43, 95% confidence interval 0.80-2.56), although not reaching statistical significance. Compared with emergency department admissions, ward admissions stayed almost 4 days longer in the PICU, while interhospital transfer admissions from non-PICU and PICU settings stayed 2 and 6 days longer, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Outcomes of tertiary pediatric intensive care vary significantly by source of admission. Strategies aimed at reduction of mortality at the tertiary PICU should target transfer admissions from the hospital's wards and from PICUs of other hospitals.
Odetola
Folafoluwa O
FO
Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. fodetola@med.umich.edu
Rosenberg
Andrew L
AL
Davis
Matthew M
MM
Clark
Sarah J
SJ
Dechert
Ronald E
RE
Shanley
Thomas P
TP
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016638:Critical Illness; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome