Introduction:

Critically ill pediatric patients are susceptible to cerebral blood flow alterations that imply a deterioration of their functional health status.

Objective:

To identify predictors of a higher risk of poor functional outcome in critically ill pediatric patients with sepsis.

Methods:

A retrospective cohort study was conducted with children under 18 years of age with sepsis, who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. Epidemiological, clinical, and functional health status variables were collected prior to admission, discharge, and after 6 months. Functional health status was assessed using the Pediatric Global State and Brain Status Category Scale. The change in performance status between admission and 6 months after discharge was assessed. A univariate analysis was performed to compare groups considering poor prognosis and change in functional status and their relationship with the variables.

Results:

A total of 46 patients were included. At 6 months after discharge, four (8.7%) had a poor functional prognosis and eight (17.4%) had functional worsening at admission. No associations were found between the predictor variables and morbidity, although some trends were observed in some variables, such as greater inotropic support (SIV > 20: 12.5% vs. 50%, p = 0.075), extracorporeal and renal replacement (25% vs. 2.6%, p = 0.074), and longer hospital stay (50% vs. 15.8%, p = 0.055).

Conclusions:

Support in the pediatric intensive care unit was not a predictor of functional morbidity in the sample.