An investigation into the prevalence and outcome of patients admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit with viral respiratory tract infections in Cape Town, South Africa
Ghani, A.S.A.; Morrow, B.M.; Hardie, D.R.; Argent, A.C.
Pediatric Critical Care Medicine a Journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies 13(5): E275-E281
2012
ISSN/ISBN: 1529-7535 PMID: 22596071 DOI: 10.1097/pcc.0b013e3182417848Document Number: 537986
To describe the prevalence and outcome of patients admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit with viral respiratory tract infections. Retrospective descriptive study. Pediatric intensive care unit in a tertiary pediatric hospital situated in Cape Town, South Africa. All children (n = 195; 20% pediatric intensive care unit admissions) with positive respiratory viral isolates between April 1 and December 31, 2009. None. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and outcome data were recorded from medical folders. Complete data were available for 175 patients (median age HIV-infected), was associated with significantly longer pediatric intensive care unit and hospital stays but not with mortality. Twenty patients died (11%, standardized mortality ratio 0.64). High Pediatric Index of Mortality scores, HIV exposure and infection, nosocomial infection, and influenza A infection were associated with mortality. Viral respiratory tract infection is common in this pediatric intensive care unit associated with significant morbidity and mortality, which may relate to the high burden of comorbidity and HIV.