MORTALITY PROFILE AND ITS CORRELATION WITH BPEWS SCORE IN PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT OF TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

Abstract

Introduction: The care of critically ill children remains one of the most demanding and challenging aspects in the field of Pediatrics. In spite of availability of well-equipped Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU), deaths do occur. Aims/objective:To study the mortality profiles and its correlation to the Bedside Pediatric Early Warning System Score (BPEWS) in children who expired within 48 hours of admission.Inclusion criteria:children aged1 month to 12 years who expired within 48 hours of admission in PICU of a tertiary care center.Methods:Approval from the institutional ethics committee was obtained prior to commencement of the study.Retrospective data of consecutive children aged 1 month to 12 years who expired within 48 hours, was collected from the hospital's Medical Records Section. The variables necessary for BPEWS Score calculator were noted and the BPEWS Score was calculated. Result: 84% patients were below five years of age with mean age of 2.6 year and 57% were females. Mean duration of stay was 19.68 hours. Mean distance from health facility was 8.31 km. Respiratory system was affected in the majority of patients (47%). More than forty percent of children were undernourished. Mean BPEWS score was 17.36 in the age group of 1 to 5 year, which depicts poor outcome. Conclusion: Majority of early deaths (within 48hrs) occurred in patients less than five years of age.Higher BPEWS (>8) was associated with shorter duration of stay of patients and poor outcome