title: Prevalence and risk factors of pneumothorax among patients admitted to a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pneumothorax should be considered a medical emergency and requires a high index of suspicion and prompt recognition and intervention.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to evaluate cases developing pneumothorax following admission to a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) over a 5-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case notes of all PICU patients (n = 1298) were reviewed, revealing that 135 cases (10.4%) developed pneumothorax, and these were compared with those patients who did not. The most common tool for diagnosis used was chest X-ray followed by a clinical examination.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case notes of 1298 patients admitted in PICU over 1-year study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with pneumothorax had higher mortality rate (P < 0.001), longer length of stay (P < 0.001), higher need for mechanical ventilation (MV) (P < 0.001), and were of younger age (P < 0.001), lower body weight (P < 0.001), higher pediatric index of mortality 2 score on admission (P < 0.001), higher pediatric logistic organ dysfunction score (P < 0.001), compared to their counterpart. Iatrogenic pneumothorax (IP) represented 95% of episodes of pneumothorax. The most common causes of IP were barotrauma secondary to MV, central vein catheter insertion, and other (69.6%, 13.2%, and 17.2%, respectively). Compared to ventilated patients without pneumothorax, ventilated patients who developed pneumothorax had a longer duration of MV care (P < 0.001) and higher nonconventional and high-frequency oscillatory ventilation settings (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that pneumothorax is common in Alexandria University PICU patients, especially in those on MV and emphasized the importance of the strict application of protective lung strategies among ventilated patients to minimize the risk of pneumothorax.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Department, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed Ahmed
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: El-Nawawy
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Department, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors.forename: Amina Sedky
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Al-Halawany
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Department, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors.forename: Manal Abdelmalik
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Antonios
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Department, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors.forename: Reem Gamal
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Newegy
keywords: Barotrauma; high-frequency oscillatory ventilation; mechanical ventilation; pediatrics; pneumothorax