Our objective was to determine if C-reactive protein (CRP) and ferritin values alone and in combination are associated with mortality among hospitalized children. All hospitalized patients at our institution with a CRP or ferritin assay in 2015 and 2016 were included. Area under the receiver operating curves (AUROC) were examined, optimal cut-points determined, and patients were stratified into low-, intermediate-, or high-risk groups based on elevation of zero, one, or both biomarkers. A total of 14 928 CRP and 653 ferritin values were obtained, with both obtained for 172 patients. AUROC for maximum CRP value was 0.76 (0.68-0.85) with a cut-point of 7.1 mg/dL for in-hospital mortality and 0.90 (0.83-0.98) for maximum ferritin with a cut-point of 373 ng/mL. Elevation of both ferritin and CRP was associated with the highest inpatient mortality (21.7%) and greatest organ dysfunction, followed by either biomarker alone. Additional prospective study of these biomarkers in combination is warranted.

Objectives: Develop and test the performance of electronic version of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Risk of Mortality-IV and electronic version of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 scores. Design: Retrospective, single-center cohort derived from structured electronic health record data. Setting: Large, quaternary PICU at a freestanding, university-affiliated children’s hospital. Patients: All encounters with a PICU admission between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2017, identified using electronic definitions of inpatient encounter. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: The main outcome was predictive validity of each score for hospital mortality, assessed as model discrimination and calibration. Discrimination was examined with the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve and the area under the precision-recall curve. Calibration was assessed with the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test and calculation of a standardized mortality ratio. Models were recalibrated with new regression coefficients in a training subset of 75% of encounters selected randomly from all years of the cohort and the calibrated models were tested in the remaining 25% of the cohort. Content validity was assessed by examining correlation between electronic versions of the scores and prospectively calculated data (electronic version of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Risk of Mortality-IV) and an alternative informatics approach (Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 score). The cohort included 21,335 encounters. Correlation coefficients indicated strong agreement between different methods of score calculation. Uncalibrated area under the receiver operating characteristics curves were 0.96 (95% CI, 0.95–0.97) for electronic version of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 score and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.85–0.89) for electronic version of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Risk of Mortality-IV for inpatient mortality. The uncalibrated electronic version of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Risk of Mortality-IV standardized mortality ratio was 0.63 (0.59–0.66), demonstrating strong agreement with previous, prospective evaluation at the study center. The uncalibrated electronic version of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 score standardized mortality ratio was 0.20 (0.18–0.21). All models required recalibrating (all Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit, p < 0.001) and subsequently demonstrated acceptable goodness-of-fit when examined in a test subset (n = 5,334) of the cohort. Conclusions: Electronically derived intensive care acuity scores demonstrate very good to excellent discrimination and can be calibrated to institutional outcomes. This approach can facilitate both performance improvement and research initiatives and may offer a scalable strategy for comparison of interinstitutional PICU outcomes.

Objectives: Neurologic complications occur in up to 40% of adult abdominal solid organ transplant recipients and are associated with increased mortality. Comparable pediatric data are sparse. This study describes the occurrence of neurologic and behavioral complications (neurobehavioral complications) in pediatric abdominal solid organ transplant recipients. We examine the association of these complications with length of stay, mortality, and tacrolimus levels. Design: The electronic health record was interrogated for inpatient readmissions of pediatric abdominal solid organ transplant recipients from 2009 to 2017. A computable composite definition of neurobehavioral complication, defined using structured electronic data for neurologic and/or behavioral phenotypes, was created. Setting: Quaternary children’s hospital with an active transplant program. Patients: Pediatric abdominal solid organ transplant recipients. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Computable phenotypes demonstrated a specificity 98.7% and sensitivity of 63.0% for identifying neurobehavioral complications. There were 1,542 readmissions among 318 patients, with 65 (20.4%) having at least one admission with a neurobehavioral complication (total 109 admissions). Median time from transplant to admission with neurobehavioral complication was 1.2 years (interquartile range, 0.52–2.28 yr). Compared to encounters without an identified neurobehavioral complication, encounters with a neurobehavioral complication were more likely to experience ICU admission (odds ratio, 3.9; 2.41–6.64; p < 0.001), have longer ICU length of stay (median 10.3 vs 2.2 d; p < 0.001) and hospital length of stay (8.9 vs 4.3 d; p < 0.001), and demonstrate higher maximum tacrolimus level (12.3 vs 9.8 ng/mL; p = 0.001). Patients with a neurobehavioral complication admission were more likely to die (odds ratio, 5.04; 1.49–17.09; p = 0.009). In a multivariable analysis, type of transplant, ICU admission, and tacrolimus levels were independently associated with the presence of a neurobehavioral complication. Conclusions: Common electronic health record variables can be used to accurately identify neurobehavioral complications in the pediatric abdominal solid organ transplant population. Late neurobehavioral complications are associated with increased hospital resource utilization, mortality, and tacrolimus exposure. Additional studies are required to delineate the relationship between maximum tacrolimus level and neurobehavioral complications to guide therapeutic drug monitoring and dosing.

Objectives: Targets for treatment of raised intracranial pressure or decreased cerebral perfusion pressure in pediatric neurocritical care are not well defined. Current pediatric guidelines, based on traumatic brain injury, suggest an intracranial pressure target of less than 20 mm Hg and cerebral perfusion pressure minimum of 40–50 mm Hg, with possible age dependence of cerebral perfusion pressure. We sought to define intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure thresholds associated with inhospital mortality across a large single-center pediatric neurocritical care cohort. Design: Retrospective chart review. Setting: PICU, single quaternary-care center. Patients: Individuals receiving intracranial pressure monitoring from January 2012 to December 2016. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure measurements from 262 neurocritical care patients (87 traumatic brain injury and 175 nontraumatic brain injury; 63% male; 8.3 ± 5.8 yr; mortality 11.1%). Mean intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure had area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.75 and 0.64, respectively, for association of inhospital mortality. Cerebral perfusion pressure cut points increased with age (< 2 yr = 47, 2 to < 8 yr = 58 mm Hg, ≥ 8 yr = 73 mm Hg). In the traumatic brain injury subset, mean intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure had area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.70 and 0.78, respectively, for association of inhospital mortality. Traumatic brain injury cerebral perfusion pressure cut points increased with age (< 2 yr = 45, 2 to < 8 yr = 57, ≥ 8 yr = 68 mm Hg). Mean intracranial pressure greater than 15 mm Hg, male sex, and traumatic brain injury status were independently associated with inhospital mortality (odds ratio, 14.23 [5.55–36.46], 2.77 [1.04–7.39], and 2.57 [1.03–6.38], respectively; all p < 0.05). Mean cerebral perfusion pressure less than 67 mm Hg and traumatic brain injury status were independently associated with inhospital mortality (odds ratio, 5.16 [2.05–12.98] and 3.71 [1.55–8.91], respectively; both p < 0.01). In the nontraumatic brain injury subset, mean intracranial pressure had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.77 with an intracranial pressure cut point of 15 mm Hg, whereas mean cerebral perfusion pressure was not predictive of inhospital mortality. Conclusions: We identified mean intracranial pressure thresholds, utilizing receiver operating characteristic and regression analyses, associated with inhospital mortality that is below current guidelines-based treatment targets in both traumatic brain injury and nontraumatic brain injury patients, and age-dependent cerebral perfusion pressure thresholds associated with inhospital mortality that were above current guidelines-based targets in traumatic brain injury patients. Further study is warranted to identify data-driven intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure targets in children undergoing intracranial pressure monitoring, whether for traumatic brain injury or other indications.

Treatment-related outcomes improved over the entire study period and following a performance improvement intervention. The association of SBP with cerebral edema warrants further study.

Objective: Legitimate opioid prescriptions have been identified as a risk factor for opioid misuse in pediatric patients. In 2014, Pennsylvania legislation expanded a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) to curb inappropriate controlled substance prescriptions. The authors’ objective was to describe recent opioid prescribing trends at a large, pediatric health system situated in a region with one of the highest opioid-related death rates in the United States and examine the impact of the PDMP on prescribing trends.Design: Quasi-experimental assessment of trends of opioid e-prescriptions, from 2012 to 2017. Multivariable Poisson segmented regression examined the effect of the PDMP. Period prevalence comparison of opioid e-prescriptions across the care continuum in 2016.Results: There were 62,661 opioid e-prescriptions identified during the study period. Combination opioid/non-opioid prescriptions decreased, while oxycodone prescriptions increased. Seasonal variation was evident. Of 110,884 inpatient encounters, multivariable regression demonstrated lower odds of an opioid being prescribed at discharge per month of the study period (p 0.001) and a significant interaction between passage of the PDMP legislation and time (p = 0.03). Black patients had lower odds of receiving an opioid at discharge compared to white patients. Inpatients had significantly greater odds of receiving an opioid compared to emergency department (Prevalence Odds Ratio 7.1 [95% confidence interval: 6.9-7.3]; p 0.001) and outpatient (398.9 [355.5-447.5]; p 0.001) encounters.Conclusion: In a large pediatric health system, oxycodone has emerged as the most commonly prescribed opioid in recent years. Early evidence indicates that a state-run drug monitoring program is associated with reduced opioid prescribing. Additional study is necessary to examine the relationship between opioid prescriptions and race.

Background:Sepsis kills almost 5,000 children annually, accounting for 16% of pediatric health care spending in the United States.Objectives:We sought to identify sepsis within the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of a quaternary children’s hospital to characterize disease incidence, improve recognition and response, and track performance metrics.Methods:Methods are organized in a plan-do-study-act cycle. During the “plan” phase, electronic definitions of sepsis (blood culture and antibiotic within 24 hours) and septic shock (sepsis plus vasoactive medication) were created to establish benchmark data and track progress with statistical process control. The performance of a screening tool was evaluated in the emergency department. During the “do” phase, a novel inpatient workflow is being piloted, which involves regular sepsis screening by nurses using the tool, and a regimented response to high risk patients.Results:Screening tool use in the emergency department reduced time to antibiotics (Fig. 1). Of the 6,159 admissions, EHR definitions identified 1,433 (23.3%) between July and December 2016 with sepsis, of which 159 (11.1%) had septic shock. Hospital mortality for all sepsis patients was 2.2% and 15.7% for septic shock (Table 1). These findings approximate epidemiologic studies of sepsis and severe sepsis, which report a prevalence range of 0.45–8.2% and mortality range of 8.2–25% (Table 2).1–5Conclusions/Implications:Implementation of a sepsis screening tool is associated with improved performance. The prevalence of sepsis conditions identified with electronic definitions approximates the epidemiologic landscape characterized by other point-prevalence and administrative studies, providing face validity to this approach, and proving useful for tracking performance improvement.

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