Clinical profile and outcome in a paediatric intensive care unit in Pakistan

Paediatric critical care medicine is a relatively new subspecialty in Pakistan. The clinical profile and outcomes of children admitted in the PICU (paediatric intensive care unit) were retrospectively reviewed from January to December 2007. Mean age of the studied 314 patients was 24 months; 37% were less than one-year-old and 66% was male. Mean PRISM score was 13.2. There were almost equal distribution of medical (46%) and surgical (54%) cases. Ninety percent of patients received mechanical ventilation, while more than 50% received vasoactive drugs. The rate of nosocomial infection was 4.7%. The average length of PICU stay was 3.2 (1-49) days. The overall mortality rate was 14%. The results are encouraging and efforts should be made to establish more PICUs