European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: The study is done to have a better understanding of the morbidity profile and outcome in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of a rural-based tertiary care centre which can enable the caretakers to plan and plant possible interventions to enhance patient care. The study was carried out in a retrospective manner.
Methods: This retrospective study was carried out in the department of paediatrics in children aged 1 month to 12 years, who were admitted to the PICU during the period of 1st September 2021 to 31st August 2022. A total of 925 children were admitted and data were collected from PICU records using predesigned proforma and analysed accordingly.
Results A total of 925 children were admitted during the study period. The 61.62% of children were male and the rest 38.38% were female. The male to female ratio was 1.6:1. The infants excluding neonates constituted 59.89% of total admission.  The mean age of presentation was 2.63 ± 3.41 years. 67.46% of children were admitted with infections of different organ systems and the rest 32.54% with diseases of non-infectious aetiology. So far outcome is concerned, 13.62%, 56.10%, 3.24%, 3.78%, and 23.24% of children were discharged, transferred to the paediatric ward, referred out to elsewhere, left against medical advice (LAMA) and death respectively. Infants excluding neonates constituted 69.30% of total death and the most common aetiology of death being documented was infections (84.19%).
Conclusion: In our study, most of the admitted children were found to have died of infective causes and most of them were infants. This puts a much necessary focus on the control of infections among infants by various means and should be addressed promptly and meticulously.