Abstract

ELORZA PARRA, Mussatyé; ESCOBAR GONZALEZ, Andrés Felipe; CORNEJO OCHOA, William  and  QUEVEDO VELEZ, Augusto. Morbidity and mortality at a pediatric intensive care unit in Medellín, Colombia, 2001-2005. Iatreia [online]. 2008, vol.21, n.1, pp.33-40. ISSN 0121-0793.

Introduction: increase in the number and complexity of pediatric intensive care units (PICU), added to their high cost, have stimulated interest in evaluating their functioning, efficiency and quality by means of markers derived from descriptive studies of morbidity and mortality. Objective: to describe the causes of morbidity and mortality, as well as the social and demographic characteristics of patients admitted to the PICU of Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paúl (HUSVP) in Medellín, Colombia, between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2005. Methodology: descriptive and retrospective cross section study. 328 patient charts were randomly selected and then reviewed. All information was tabulated and statistically analyzed. Results: 59.8% of the patients were males, 40.9% were under one year of age, and 43% came from the metropolitan area around Medellín. Average age at admission was 44 months. Only 47% of the patients had some type of health insurance. The main causes for admission to the PICU were: respiratory infection (23.8%), post surgical cases (23.5%), respiratory failure (18.6%), septic shock (16.5%) and congenital malformations (13.1%). Average length of stay was 5 days. Mechanical ventilation was required by 52.4%, and 26% of them suffered from some complication. Mortality was 21.6%, affecting mainly male patients from the metropolitan zone around Medellín. 56% of the deaths occurred during the first 48 hours after admission to the PICU. The main causes of death were multiple organ failure (26.8%) and septic shock (19.7%). Discussion: infants are the group at greater risk for admission to a PICU, most frequently due to respiratory and infectious problems, which may reflect faults in the promotion and prevention programs at the lowest levels of the health care system. Mortality was high in comparison with that at other PICUs in Latin America; nevertheless, comparisons are difficult due to the heterogeneity of patients. The fact that more than half of the deaths occurred within the first 48 hours after admission may be due to the severity of the acute diseases, age, previous illnesses and other factors, such as difficulties in the initial medical care and/or the transfer.

Keywords : Morbidity In Pediatric Intensive Care Units; Mortality In Pediatric Intensive Care Units.

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