Children's Intensive Care Research Articles

Acute Adrenal Insufficiency in Childhood: Etiopathogenesis, Clinical Picture, and Intensive Care

Introduction. Acute adrenal insufficiency (AAI) is a severe endocrinopathy whose victims include children and adolescents and which can be life-threatening despite its low incidence. Analysis of issues associated with intensive care of children with this pathology is of vital interest for pediatric anesthesiology and critical care medicine. The aim of this work was to assess current views on the etiopathogenesis, clinical pathology and intensive treatment of pediatric AAI.Materials and methods. The topic was researched by analyzing publications found in the Cochrane Library, PubMed and Medscape using the following search terms: “acute adrenal insufficiency, children and adolescents, intensive therapy, fluid management”, with 65 published sources chosen.Results and discussion. In AAI, caused by a sharp deficiency of cortisol (and mineralocorticoids), which triggers an inflammatory reaction, electrolyte imbalance and hemodynamic disorders. AAI presents with dehydration, nausea and vomiting, feelings of pain, hypotension, tachycardia, seizures and impaired consciousness up to coma. Laboratory tests in children often reveal hyperkalemia, hyponatremia, hypoglycemia and hypercalcemia. Intensive management of AAI in the ICU relies on parenteral corticosteroids (preferably intravenous hydrocortisone). Two or three days later, when the child is stable, they are switched to oral hormones. Meanwhile, fluid management is performed over 2 to 3 days to increase the circulating blood volume and relieve dehydration with crystalloid fluids.Conclusion. A clearer understanding of the etiopathogenesis, clinical manifestations and diagnostic features of AAI, along with knowledge of emergency care algorithms, will improve the quality of intensive therapy of pediatric patients with this condition.

Intensive care in children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Sweden.

Intensive care in children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Sweden.

Diagnosis and Intensive Care in Children’s Diabetic Acidosis: an Interdisciplinary Viewpoint

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is the main cause of death and disability in children with type I diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Children’s mortality from T1DM reaches 1% in developed countries and 13% in developing countries. The main cause of death in DKA is cerebral edema, clinical manifestations of which develop in 0.5–0.9% of children with DKA, while mortality riches 24%.Objective. Developing recommendations to prevent life-threatening complications of children with DKA using analysis of literature data and consolidated opinion of experts on the issues of intensive care in children with T1DM.Materials and methods. We analyzed and discussed studies in diagnosis and treatment of DKA in children with type 1 diabetes and 1200 literature sources since January 1970, published in Russian peer-reviewed scientific journals and international publications presented in the online repository Medline (Pubmed). The search for publications was carried out using the keywords: «children», «DKA», «DM1», «dehydration», «cerebral edema».Results. We considered issues of epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, intensive care for DKA, as well as clinical and diagnosis, treatment, prevention of cerebral edema issues in children. Limitations of the study were the small number of modern studies with a high level of evidence (randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses) over the past 5 years on DKA in children.Conclusion. Taking into account the national and international experience, joint recommendations on a consensus format were developed and formulated for the diagnosis of DKA, its leading complications and treatment recommendations for children with T1DM and DKA. Timely and accurate diagnosis of DKA, intensive therapy options based on proven therapeutic efficacy, laboratory and clinical monitoring are warranted to interrupt the DKA pathogenesis, prevent the development of life-threatening conditions, and improve treatment outcomes for children with DKA.

Exploring Factors Affecting Parental Psychological Vulnerability During Their Child's PICU Admission: A Prospective Pilot Cohort Study

Parental psychological responses during their child's pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission are often overlooked. This study aimed to identify pre-existing and peri-traumatic factors explaining parental stress and anxiety during their child's PICU admission and one-month follow-up. A prospective pilot study included 60 PICU parents. Parental Stressors Scale and State-trait Anxiety Inventory measured stress and anxiety during PICU admission, and the State-trait Anxiety Inventory and Perceived Stress Scale at a one-month follow-up. During PICU admission, parental stress correlated with age, race, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), anxiety was linked to income. At one-month follow-up, anxiety related to child's health worries, perceived stress was linked to parental ACEs and education. Parental ACEs predicted perceived stress (b=0.83, p=.028). Children's diagnoses explained anxiety, particularly respiratory and cardiac diagnoses (b=-13.44, p=.023; -10.03, p=.045). Identifying factors helps teams understand parental vulnerability and provide appropriate support.

Maternal COVID-19 Infection Associated with Fetal Systemic Inflammatory Complications in COVID-19-Negative Neonates: A Case-Series.

This study aimed to examine fetal and neonatal inflammatory and neurologic complications associated with maternal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Case-series using a convenience sample of neonates cared for in a large referral-based children's hospital neonatal intensive care unit between September 2021 and May 2022. We identified seven neonates with exposure to maternal severe acute respiratory syndrome related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and a presentation consistent with inflammatory complications. All had some degree of neurologic injury with neuroimaging findings including restricted diffusion indicating injury in the white matter, cortex, deep gray structures, and splenium of the corpus callosum as well as intracranial hemorrhage. In addition, many infants had cytopenia and abnormal coagulation studies. Placental pathology, when available, revealed inflammation, clot with calcifications, and hematomas with associated infarcts. Neonates born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2, even when negative for the virus themselves, may have complications consistent with a systemic inflammatory syndrome. Placental pathology as well as neurologic imaging in infants with neurologic findings may help to support this diagnosis. · A systemic inflammatory response may cause illness in babies born to mothers with a history of COVID-19.. · Inflammatory markers and placental pathology are helpful in supporting this diagnosis.. · Consider neuroimaging in infants of mothers with a history of COVID-19 with neurologic findings..

Exploring Family Needs in Pediatric Intensive Care Units: A Comparative Analysis between COVID-19 Isolation and Non-Isolation Settings

This article aims to analyze the differences in family needs that arise when children are treated in the COVID-19 Isolation PICU and the COVID-19 Non-Isolation PICU. This research was conducted in the period March 2020 to December 2021. This research is a quantitative study with a retrospective cohort approach. The sampling method used was Non-Probability Sampling. The number of samples for the two groups, namely the COVID-19 Isolation PICU and the COVID-19 Non-Isolation PICU at RSUP DR M Djamil Padang, was 62 people. By detailing aspects such as closeness to the patient, service guarantees, mental support, information, and comfort, this research explores the impact of the pandemic situation on families' experiences during their child's intensive care. The research used quantitative methods with a retrospective cohort study at RSUP DR M Djamil Padang, involving patient families from both groups. The data collection instrument used the Critical Care Family Need Inventory (CCFNI) questionnaire, which was translated into Indonesian. Data analysis was carried out by comparing the frequency distribution of family characteristics, length of stay, and family needs through relevant statistical tests.

Analysis of factors associated with admission to the intensive care unit of children and adolescents with COVID-19: application of a multilevel model.

To identify factors associated with hospitalization in the intensive care unit in children and adolescents with COVID-19. This was a retrospective cohort study using secondary data of hospitalized children and adolescents (zero to 18 years old) with COVID-19 reported in Paraíba from April 2020 to July 2021, totaling 486 records. Descriptive analysis, logistic regression and multilevel regression were performed, utilizing a significance level of 5%. According to logistic regression without hierarchical levels, there was an increased chance of admission to the intensive care unit for male patients (OR = 1.98; 95%CI 1.18 - 3.32), patients with respiratory distress (OR = 2.43; 95%CI 1.29 - 4.56), patients with dyspnea (OR = 3.57; 95%CI 1.77 - 7.18) and patients living in large cities (OR = 2.70; 95%CI 1.07 - 6.77). The likelihood of requiring intensive care was observed to decrease with increasing age (OR = 0.94; 95%CI = 0.90 - 0.97), the presence of cough (OR = 0.32; 95%CI 0.18 - 0.59) or fever (OR = 0.42; 95%CI 0.23 - 0.74) and increasing Gini index (OR = 0.003; 95%CI 0.000 - 0.243). According to the multilevel analysis, the odds of admission to the intensive care unit increased in male patients (OR = 1.70; 95%CI = 1.68-1.71) and with increasing population size of the municipality per 100,000 inhabitants (OR = 1.01; 95%CI 1.01-1.03); additionally, the odds of admission to the intensive care unit decreased for mixed-race versus non-brown-skinned patients (OR = 0.981; 95%CI 0.97 - 0.99) and increasing Gini index (OR = 0.02; 95%CI 0.02 - 0.02). The effects of patient characteristics and social context on the need for intensive care in children and adolescents with SARS-CoV-2 infection were better estimated with the inclusion of a multilevel regression model.

Predicting transfers to intensive care in children using CEWT and other early warning systems

Background and ObjectiveThe Children’s Early Warning Tool (CEWT), developed in Australia, is widely used in many countries to monitor the risk of deterioration in hospitalized children. Our objective was to compare CEWT prediction performance against a version of the Bedside Pediatric Early Warning Score (Bedside PEWS), Between the Flags (BTF), and the pediatric Calculated Assessment of Risk and Triage (pCART). MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study of all patient admissions to the Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago between 2009–2019. We compared performance for predicting the primary outcome of a direct ward-to-intensive care unit (ICU) transfer within the next 12 h using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Alert rates at various score thresholds were also compared. ResultsOf 50,815 ward admissions, 1,874 (3.7%) experienced the primary outcome. Among patients in Cohort 1 (years 2009–2017, on which the machine learning-based pCART was trained), CEWT performed slightly worse than Bedside PEWS but better than BTF (CEWT AUC 0.74 vs. Bedside PEWS 0.76, P < 0.001; vs. BTF 0.66, P < 0.001), while pCART performed best for patients in Cohort 2 (years 2018–2019, pCART AUC 0.84 vs. CEWT AUC 0.79, P < 0.001; vs. BTF AUC 0.67, P < 0.001; vs. Bedside PEWS 0.80, P < 0.001). Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values varied across all four tools at the examined thresholds for alerts. ConclusionCEWT has good discrimination for predicting which patients will likely be transferred to the ICU, while pCART performed the best.

Dexmedetomidine at Home for Intractable Dystonia and Insomnia in Children With Special Needs: A Case Series.

We know that syndromic conditions and severe chronic diseases can be associated with symptoms that may interfere with sleep, significantly impacting the life quality of children and caregivers. Drugs commonly used in treating insomnia, such as melatonin, benzodiazepines, niaprazine, and antihistamines, are often either ineffective or associated with adverse effects, requiring new therapeutic perspectives. Dexmedetomidine is a selective alpha-2 agonist with hypnotic and anxiolytic effects, which, by stimulating alpha-2 adrenergic receptors in the locus coeruleus, induces sleep comparable to stages 2-3 of the non-REM phase without substantially affecting the respiratory drive during sedation. Its use has already been extensively described in pediatric intensive care or procedural sedation literature. In 2018, the Italian Medicines Agency (Agenzia Italiana Del Farmaco AIFA) authorized the off-label use of dexmedetomidine outside of intensive care in Children undergoing palliative treatment to control distressing symptoms related to pathology and refractory sleep disorders, and the literature reported cases of children who received dexmedetomidine at home. Our study aims to describe the home use of dexmedetomidine in children with insomnia or intractable dystonic states. We conducted a retrospective analysis through a questionnaire addressed to 12 Italian pediatric palliative care centers regarding the home use of dexmedetomidine in sleep disorders and intractable dystonic states. We collected a case series of 9 children treated with dexmedetomidine at home, 8 via intranasal and 1 via intravenous route. All children received the first drug administration in the hospital or hospice during a dedicated admission, under close monitoring of vital signs parameters for 72 hours (3 days, range 2-7 days). After discharge, the potential side effects of the drug were explained to the patient's families, and, once informed consent was obtained, the home administration of dexmedetomidine continued, with follow-up by the palliative care team. At home, dexmedetomidine was administered for 3000 days (minimum 1 month, maximum 36 months). The first patient was treated for 1095 days, from 2019 to 2021 (discontinued due to underlying condition-related death). All patients observed a persistent benefit from the treatment on symptoms, and none of them discontinued dexmedetomidine administration due to drug-related adverse effects or perceived lack of therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, its use at home may represent a promising therapeutic approach for intractable sleep disorders or dystonic states in pediatric palliative care children. Further studies are needed to confirm our results.

The second empty nest: The lived experience of older women whose intensive ‘grandmotherhood’ has ended

Grandmothers are the major nonparental unpaid source of childcare in Western societies. Intensive caring for grandchildren may pose challenges to some grandmothers, but also offers an opportunity to refill the ‘empty nest’ often experienced in mid-life. When grandmothers' intensive involvement in their grandchildren's care decreases significantly or ceases altogether, they may experience a recurrence of the empty nest syndrome. This may be particularly powerful in the familial and pro-natalist Israeli society, where caring for children is a central tenet of femininity. Despite the growing numbers of grandmothers whose intensive involvement in caring for their grandchildren has ended, this transition has been overlooked socially and rarely examined empirically. To fill this void, the present study examined the lived experience of these grandmothers and the relevance of the concept of the ‘second empty nest’ in this context. Within a phenomenological study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 Israeli women whose intensive ‘grandmotherhood’ (childcare occurring at least three times per week, for at least two hours each day, for a minimum of two years) has ended. These interviews were analyzed according to Moustakas' phenomenological analysis. The analysis revealed four themes: the circumstances of the cessation of intensive childcare involvement; difficulties and challenges experienced; positive aspects associated with it; and behavioral and cognitive strategies utilized to cope with the void in grandmothers' lives. The grandmothers' experiences reveal a significant similarity to that reported by mothers undergoing the empty nest syndrome. Hence, we offer the term ‘the second empty nest’ to represent the phenomenon of grandmothers' cessation of intensive childcare. Alongside the similarities between the two empty nests, the challenges of the second transition seem more intense than those posed by the first. This is due to the different locations of mothers and grandmothers across the lifespan and the intersection between sexism and ageism that underlies Western societies. Possible practices to assist grandmothers undergoing the second empty nest are suggested.

Evaluation of microbiological efficiency of use of pulsed ultraviolet devices in medical organization

Objective. To study bactericidal effect of continuous spectrum ultraviolet radiation on hospital flora and evaluate microbiological efficiency of using portable pulsed ultraviolet unit for disinfection of air and open surfaces in a medical organization. During the study, it was found that the selected research methods probably did not allow to achieve higher values of disinfection efficiency in shorter processing times.Materials and methods. The strains of microorganisms that were used for the study were taken from various loci from patients of the department of anesthesiology and intensive care for children with cardiac pathology on the first day of their transfer from various medical organizations, as well as museum strains from the collection of microorganisms of the laboratory. Single-use plastic Petri dishes with nutrient media in the laboratory were artificially contaminated with test strains. Air samples were taken during the work shift by aspiration using a Krotov’s apparatus. Wipes were taken with a sterile cotton swab dipped in nutrient medium.Results. No colonies of multiresistant K. pneumoniae, S. aureus, E. coli were detected in the samples as a result of exposure to a pulsed ultraviolet radiation source in a mode № 1; the efficiency of the action was 99.9–100%. With the regimen № 2 the efficacy was 83.33–99.9%. Assessment of microbiological efficiency of the disinfected open surfaces and air in a small operating room and a dressing room showed that the level of air contamination did not exceed the permissible level.Conclusions. It has been experimentally proved that pulsed UV radiation of broadband spectrum has high bactericidal activity against microorganisms of hospital environments.

Effect of a BSHP process on clinical work ability of nurses in a children's cardiac intensive care unit.

Nurse shift change is the key step to ensuring the integrity, dynamics, and continuity of clinical nursing in intensive care units. To evaluate the effect of a bedside shift handover process (BSHP) on the clinical work ability of first-line clinical nurses in a children's cardiac intensive care unit (CICU). This quasi-experimental study was performed on the first-line clinical nurses working in a pediatric CICU at Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between July and December, 2018. Participants were trained by the BSHP. This article is based on the STROBE checklist. A total of 41 nurses were trained, with 34 women. The nurses in the intensive care unit showed significantly improved clinical work ability, including the ability to assess illness/find problems, master professional knowledge, standardized hands-on ability, ability to express communication, strain handling capacity, and humanistic care and accomplishment (all P < 0.05), after training. BSHP might improve the clinical work ability for pediatric CICU nurses through a standardization shift handover. The traditional oral shift change in CICU can easily cause an information distortion, and it is difficult or even impossible to arouse the nurses' enthusiasm. This study suggested that BSHP might be an alternative shift change process for pediatric CICU nurses.

Current challenges of intensive care in children affected by the war in Ukraine

Background. Treatment of children with combat injuries due to the war in Ukraine requires intensive care and high professionalism. The purpose of study was to demonstrate the experience of providing intensive care to children affected by the war in Ukraine and to discuss the implementation of international standards for providing medical aid to such patients at the stages of evacuation from the war zone. Materials and methods. We have examined and provided intensive care to 15 children aged 1 month — 18 years old with combat injuries due to hostilities in Ukraine. Literature search was performed in PubMed databases using the keywords “combat trauma in children, “blast injuries in children”, “intensive care of children with tertiary peritonitis”, “acute and chronic pain”, “acute psychiatric disorders in children”, “sepsis and septic shock in children”, “multiresistant nosocomial infections”. Results. The main clinical problems of people affected by hostilities were: acute and chronic pain, acute psychiatric disorders (psychosis, hallucinatory syndrome, agitation), sepsis and colonization by multiresistant nosocomial pathogens, especially if a patient was previously treated in the intensive care unit for more than 2 weeks (pneumonia, wound infections), gastrointestinal failure syndrome, gastroparesis, tertiary peritonitis, nutrient deficiency, prolonged mechanical ventilation and difficulty weaning from it. All patients received multidisciplinary care. Conclusions. Thus, our experience of treating children requiring intensive care after war injuries indicates that such patients have a combination of many clinical problems already known to clinicians, which are typical for both long-term intensive care patients, and those with severe injuries.

Parent post-traumatic growth after a child's critical illness.

ObjectivePost-traumatic growth is the experience of a positive change after a traumatic event. Our objective is to characterize the factors associated with post-traumatic growth in parents after a child's pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission.Study designA cross-sectional survey study examining post-traumatic growth and select independent variables in parents 1 year after a child's ≥72 h PICU admission for an acute illness or injury. The study was completed in parents of children discharge alive from a tertiary care PICU from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017. A mixed-effects linear regression model was built to evaluate the association of post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, resiliency, family function, and child function with post-traumatic growth.ResultsEighty-two parents of 52 children discharged alive in 2017 completed the survey. Fifty-two percent were ≥35 years and 64.3% were mothers. Median age of their children was 2.8 years (IQR 0.5–11.3) with a median hospital stay of 12 Days (IQR 6–20). Moderate-to-high levels of post-traumatic growth occurred in 67.1% of parents. Increased hospital length of stay (β Coeff 0.85; p = 0.004, 95% CI 0.27, 1.43) and parent post-traumatic stress symptoms (β Coeff 1.04; p = 0.006, 95% CI 0.29, 1.78) were associated with increased post-traumatic growth, and increased parent depression symptoms (β Coeff −1.96; p = 0.015; 95% CI −3.54, −0.38) with decreased post-traumatic growth.ConclusionLonger child hospital stays and increased parent post-traumatic stress symptoms were associated with increased post-traumatic growth, while increased depression was associated with less post-traumatic growth. The impact of future PICU parent psychosocial interventions on parents may be best assessed using a dual outcome focused on both reducing negative mental health symptoms while concurrently promoting skills to facilitate parent adaptation and post-traumatic growth.

Caring for grandchildren and life satisfaction of grandparents in China

BackgroundCaring for grandchildren has been a normative, pragmatic and prevalent practice in China, while its association with the well-being of grandparents remains inconclusive. This study aims to illustrate whether and how the provision of grandchild care is related to grandparents’ life satisfaction, and how the relationship is contingent on the features of grandparents. MethodsUsing data from the 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we apply ordered logistic model to examine the link between caregiving intensity and life satisfaction. ResultsProvision of moderate grandchild care is associated with better life satisfaction, as caregiving grandparents participate in social activities more actively and feel more confident in the future. The association between intensive child care and life satisfaction remains insignificant, as its detrimental effect might wipe out the benefits. The positive association between moderate caregiving and life satisfaction is more pronounced among male, younger, rural grandparents and grandparents not co-residing with their children. ConclusionOur findings suggest that caring for grandchildren is not necessarily beneficial for grandparents. Attenuating the load of child care as well as enhancing social and economic support to caregivers would help them better reap the benefits of grandchild care.

Stress, Coping, and Quality of Life Among Custodial Grandparents

ABSTRACT An increasing number of custodial grandparents are raising grandchildren, and intensive childcare is stressful with many negative personal, interpersonal, economic, and health implications. Grandparents’ strengths, including resilience, positive caregiving appraisal, and social support should be considered in the face of parenting stress and adversity. Guided by the stress and resilience model, the current study investigated the associations of parenting stress and coping resources with life satisfaction and mental wellness among custodial grandparents (N = 76). Data were collected between December 2020 and April 2021, through collaborations with community-based agencies located in two metropolitan areas, which provide supportive services to custodial grandparents and their families. Findings showed that more parenting stress was associated with less life satisfaction and worse mental health, and that stress management boosted life satisfaction and mental wellness. Grandparents with more informal social support and social service utilization fared better than their counterparts with less social support and no experience of service use. The results of this study suggest that social work interventions should focus on improving stress management to cope with daily and caregiving stressors. Social workers can help with informal social support and formal social services utilization to address caregiving needs among custodial grandparents.

Clonal and Horizontal Transmission of blaNDM among Klebsiella pneumoniae in Children's Intensive Care Units.

ABSTRACTIncreasing infections caused by blaNDM-carrying Klebsiella pneumoniae (NDM-KP) are an urgent threat to children with weakened immunity and limited antibiotic use. Preventing and intervening in NDM-KP infections requires a clear understanding of the pathogen’s molecular and epidemiological characteristics. We investigated the prevalence and characteristics of NDM-KP in six children’s hospitals from five Chinese provinces/municipalities. We collected 111 NDM-KP strains (40 NDM-1, one NDM-4 and 70 NDM-5) from neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) from June 2017 to June 2018; these strains accounted for 31.62% of all carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae (CR-KP). Although NDM-KP isolates exhibited high resistance to all carbapenems, including ertapenem (MIC: ≥32 mg/L, 96.4%), imipenem (MIC: ≥16 mg/L, 90.1%) and meropenem (MIC: ≥16 mg/L, 99.1%), they were fully sensitive to amikacin, tigecycline and polymyxin B, and presented low resistance to levofloxacin (9.9%) and gentamicin (15.3%). Whole-genome sequencing was conducted to gain insight into the molecular characterizations of NDM-KP isolates. The NDM-KP isolates belonged to 20 sequence types (STs), and ST2407 (n = 45) dominated in one hospital from Chengdu. ST2407 isolates with fewer single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP < 38) were found either in the same hospital or different hospitals. Most blaNDM (81.1%, 90/111), including all blaNDM-5 and blaNDM-4 and 47.5% (19/40) of blaNDM-1, in NDM-KP isolates with 13 STs were associated with the IncX3 plasmid. Our results indicated that both explosive clonal transmission and horizontal transmission of blaNDM occur among NDM-KP strains in children's hospitals. These data provide a basis for preventing and controlling NDM-KP-associated infectious diseases in hospitalized children, especially in neonates.IMPORTANCE The blaNDM gene is playing an increasingly important role in infections caused by CR-KP, especially in children. However, systematic detection and bioinformatics analysis of NDM-KP in children's hospitals are lacking in China. In this study, a total of 111 NDM-positive K. pneumoniae isolates were selected from the China Antimicrobial Surveillance Network for further investigation. The isolates were further characterized using state-of-the-art molecular techniques. Our findings suggested the clonal and horizontal transmission of blaNDM in K. pneumoniae in NICUs/PICUs. Key plasmids (IncX3) and ST diversity contribute to the spread of blaNDM. In addition, our findings provided recommendations for pediatric clinicians to use antibiotics to treat NDM-KP infections. Our current large-scale epidemiological survey would support further infection intervention strategies of NDM-KP in NICU/PICU of children's hospitals.

Exploring COVID-19 lockdowns as unexpected paternity leave: One shock, diverse gender ideologies

Objective: This paper analyses how men who became fathers to a newborn during a 2020 lockdown in France reacted to spending longer time at home than intended.&#x0D; Background: Previous research found that fathers taking longer leave are more involved at home, but men who plan these working arrangements are more oriented towards gender equality. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, fathers with diverse gender ideologies were forced to stay home with their baby.&#x0D; Method: 42 longitudinal interviews were conducted with 23 fathers, before and after the birth of their child. 10 of these fathers unexpectedly stopped their paid work for the first two months post-partum because of distancing measures. This group is compared with 10 others who took at most their 14 days of paid leave before returning to paid work and 3 others who deliberately planned to take a month off. All mothers were on maternity leave.&#x0D; Results: Lockdowns isolated couples from the help of extended family and fathers had to assume a caregiving position. However, staying home involved different things for different fathers. For some, it meant sharing unpaid work equally. For others, it was more about bonding with the baby, whereas intensive childcare was considered the mother’s role.&#x0D; Conclusion: Drawing on an integrative approach, the findings suggest that changes at the institutional level, such as lockdowns, impact fathering trajectories differently depending on gender ideologies at the individual level.

Evaluation of the Need for Intensive Care in Children With Pneumonia: Machine Learning Approach.

BackgroundTimely decision-making regarding intensive care unit (ICU) admission for children with pneumonia is crucial for a better prognosis. Despite attempts to establish a guideline or triage system for evaluating ICU care needs, no clinically applicable paradigm is available.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to develop machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict ICU care needs for pediatric pneumonia patients within 24 hours of admission, evaluate their performance, and identify clinical indices for making decisions for pediatric pneumonia patients.MethodsPneumonia patients admitted to National Taiwan University Hospital from January 2010 to December 2019 aged under 18 years were enrolled. Their underlying diseases, clinical manifestations, and laboratory data at admission were collected. The outcome of interest was ICU transfer within 24 hours of hospitalization. We compared clinically relevant features between early ICU transfer patients and patients without ICU care. ML algorithms were developed to predict ICU admission. The performance of the algorithms was evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and average precision. The relative feature importance of the best-performing algorithm was compared with physician-rated feature importance for explainability.ResultsA total of 8464 pediatric hospitalizations due to pneumonia were recorded, and 1166 (1166/8464, 13.8%) hospitalized patients were transferred to the ICU within 24 hours. Early ICU transfer patients were younger (P<.001), had higher rates of underlying diseases (eg, cardiovascular, neuropsychological, and congenital anomaly/genetic disorders; P<.001), had abnormal laboratory data, had higher pulse rates (P<.001), had higher breath rates (P<.001), had lower oxygen saturation (P<.001), and had lower peak body temperature (P<.001) at admission than patients without ICU transfer. The random forest (RF) algorithm achieved the best performance (sensitivity 0.94, 95% CI 0.92-0.95; specificity 0.94, 95% CI 0.92-0.95; AUC 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-0.99; and average precision 0.93, 95% CI 0.90-0.96). The lowest systolic blood pressure and presence of cardiovascular and neuropsychological diseases ranked in the top 10 in both RF relative feature importance and clinician judgment.ConclusionsThe ML approach could provide a clinically applicable triage algorithm and identify important clinical indices, such as age, underlying diseases, abnormal vital signs, and laboratory data for evaluating the need for intensive care in children with pneumonia.

Is grandparental childcare socio-economically patterned? Evidence from the English longitudinal study of ageing

Grandparents play a vital role in providing childcare to families. Qualitative research and evidence from parents raise concerns that it is grandparents who are socio-economically disadvantaged who provide grandchild care more regularly, perform more intensive tasks, and care out of financial necessity. However, no European studies have investigated these issues at population level. This study is based on grandparents aged 50+ who looked after grandchildren. Data are from wave 8 of the nationally representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2016/2017). We exploit newly collected information on frequency of grandchild care, activities, and reasons for care. Using multinomial regressions, we first examined the extent to which grandparents’ socio-economic characteristics (wealth and education) are associated with frequency of grandchild care. Second, using logistic regressions, we investigated whether wealth and education are associated with activities and reasons for grandchild care. Overall, grandparents from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds were more likely to provide more regular childcare. Similarly, grandparents in the lowest wealth quartile were more involved in hands-on activities (cooking, taking/collecting grandchildren to/from school), whereas highly educated grandparents were more likely to help grandchildren with homework. Finally, better-off grandparents were more likely to look after grandchildren to help parents and provide emotional support and less likely to report difficulty in refusing to provide care. Our findings show that grandparental childcare varies by socio-economic status with more intensive childcare activities falling disproportionately on those with fewer resources, and this may act to exacerbate existing socio-economic inequalities in later life.