Clinical Profile of Patients Admitted to the PICU in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Care of critically ill children remains one of the most demanding and challenging aspects in the field of pediatrics. PICU aims at promoting early intervention with an objective of achieving good results and better prognosis. This study was undertaken to know about the clinical profile and outcome of patients admitted in pediatric ICU in a tertiary care teaching Hospital. Objective: To find out the Clinical profile of patients admitted to the PICU of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Bangladesh. Methods: This is a hospital based, retrospective, descriptive study, done on patients admitted to pediatric ICU of Dhaka medical College Hospital from October 2019 -June 2022 (2 years and 9 months). Results: Total 437 patients were admitted in pediatric ICU. According to the age distribution of patients, most 172(39.36%) respondents were aged <1 year. The mean age was 3.55±3.52 years SD. There was a male preponderance 299(68%), females were 138(32%). Patients from rural area were 308(70%) and 129(30%) from urban area. Clinical profile showed that meningoencephalitis was the most common diagnosis 85(19.45%) for admission in PICU. This was followed by pneumonia 75(17.16%), septicemia 39(8.92%), and neurosurgical patient 34(7.78%). Although few percentages, some other diseases were significantly important like GBS, AGN, hepatic encephalopathies, accidental emergencies, Dengue shock syndrome, needed PICU support. The outcome revealed, overall mortality was 92(21.05%), 330(75.52%) were discharged, 9(2.06%) patients went against medical advice, 6(1.37%) patients were referred for specific comorbidities. Use of inotropes, need for mechanical ventilation, and presence of co morbid illness and low level of Glasgow coma scale less than seven were independent predictors of mortality. Conclusions: Mortality is moderate in our PICU. We conclude that a well-equipped intensive care unit with modern and innovative intensive care and appropriate training greatly ..........