Objective To create a functional status outcome measure for large outcome studies that is well defined, quantitative, sufficiently rapid, reliable, minimally dependent on subjective assessments, and applicable to hospitalized pediatric patients across a wide spectrum of ages and inpatient environments. Patients and Methods The Functional Status Scale (FSS) was developed by a multidisciplinary consensus process. Domains of functioning included mental status, sensory, communication, motor, feeding, and respiratory categorized from normal (1) to very severe dysfunction (5). The Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS) II established construct validity and calibration within domains. Seven institutions provided pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients within 24 hours of PICU discharge, high-risk non-PICU patients within 24 hours of admission, and technology-dependent children. Primary care nurses completed the ABAS II based on patient’s functioning when the FSS was completed. Patients from 10% of the study days were used to evaluate inter-rater reliability. Data were randomly split into estimation and validation sets. Statistical analyses included Pearson correlations, construct validity, linear regression analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for discriminant validity, and the intraclass correlation for inter-rater reliability. Results A total of 836 children with a mean FSS of 10.3 (standard deviation 4.4) were studied. Eighteen percent had the minimum possible FSS = 6, 44% had FSS ≥ 10, 14% had a FSS ≥ 15, and 6% had FSS scores ≥ 20. Each FSS domain was associated with mean ABAS II (p<.0001). Cells in each domain were collapsed and reweighted, which improved correlations with ABAS II from −0.58 to −0.62 in the estimation sample, and −0.60 to −0.63 in the validation sample (p<0.001 for improvements). Discrimination was very good for moderate and severe dysfunction (ABAS II categories) and improved with FSS weighting (area under the ROC curve > 0.8). Intraclass correlations of original and weighted total FSS were 0.95 and 0.94 respectively. Conclusions The FSS met our objectives and is well suited for large outcome studies.

temic ventricular dysfunction is a significant medical problem for children and represents the reason for at least 50% of pediatric referrals for heart transplantation. 1 To date, there have been no large randomized controlled trials of any medication in children and adolescents with chronic heart failure. Treatment recommendations in children and adolescents with heart failure are extrapolated from the results of clinical trials conducted in adults, which may be problematic. 2 Although multiple studies in adults have demonstrated beneficial effects of ␤-blockers on left ventricular function, symptoms, and survival, [3][4][5][6][7] little isFor editorial comment see p 1214.

Objective Nosocomial infection / sepsis occurs in up to 40% of children requiring long stay intensive care. Zinc, selenium, glutamine, metoclopramide (a prolactin secretalogue), and or whey protein supplementation have been effective in reducing infection and sepsis in other populations. We evaluated whether daily nutriceutical supplementation with zinc, selenium, glutamine, and metoclopramide, compared to whey protein would reduce the occurrence of nosocomial infection / sepsis in this at-risk population. Design Randomized double blinded comparative effectiveness trial. Setting Eight pediatric intensive care units in the NICHD Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. Patients Two hundred and ninety three long stay intensive care patients (age 1–17 years) expected to require more than 72 hours of invasive care. Interventions Patients were stratified according to immunocompromised status and center and then randomly assigned to receive daily enteral zinc, selenium, glutamine and IV metoclopramide (n = 149 ZSGM), or daily enteral whey protein (n = 144 WHEY) and IV saline, for up to 28 days of intensive care unit stay. The primary endpoint was time to development of nosocomial sepsis / infection. The analysis was intention to treat. Measurements and Main Results There were no differences by assigned treatment in the overall population with respect to time until the first episode of nosocomial infection / sepsis (median WHEY 13.2 days vs ZSGM 12.1 days, p=0.29 by log rank test) or the rate of nosocomial infection / sepsis (4.83/100 days WHEY vs. 4.99/100 days ZSGM, p = 0.81). Only 9% of the 293 subjects were immunocompromised and there was a reduction in rate of nosocomial infection / sepsis with ZSGM in this immunocompromised group (6.09/100 days WHEY vs 1.57/100 days ZSGM, p value = 0.011). Conclusions Compared with WHEY supplementation, ZSGM conferred no advantage in the immunecompetent population. Further evaluation of ZSGM supplementation is warranted in the immunocompromised long stay PICU patient.