ABSTRACT 59

Abstract

Background and aims: Sepsis represents a burden to children. Despite its importance, data on the epidemiology of pediatric sepsis are scarce and incomplete, mainly in developing countries. Aims: To report the prevalence and mortality of sepsis in children admitted to PICUs in Latin-American countries. Methods: A prospective, multicenter study that included all children admitted to 21 PICUs in five countries, from June to September, 2011. All patients had their data registered within the first 24h of PICU admission in an electronic form (www.lapsesgroup.com). Sepsis was defined according to the International Pediatric Sepsis Consensus Conference definition. The study was approved by the Committee of Ethics on Research, and informed consent was obtained. Results: One-thousand ninety children were admitted to the study. The prevalence of sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock were 42.6%, 25.9% and 19.8%, respectively. Among the 464 septic children, 53.4% were male and median age was 11.6 months. Fifty percent of the septic patients were <1 year, 43% had at least one chronic underlying condition, and 86.3% had one or more organ dysfunction on admission. Female gender, age <1 year, mother schooling <4 years and immunosuppression were associated with the occurrence of sepsis (p<0.05). Mortality among septic patients was 14.2%. Female gender, immunodeficiencies, hematological diseases, malignancies and any organ dysfunction (p<0.05) were significantly related to mortality. Conclusions: Among our study population, sepsis was frequent and related to high mortality. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the causes of the high prevalence and mortality. Such understanding is essential to implement specific measures to reduce the burden of pediatric sepsis in Latin America.