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BACKGROUND:The shock index pediatric age-adjusted (SIPA) predicts the need for increased resources and mortality among pediatric trauma patients without incorporating neurological status. A new scoring tool, rSIG, which is the reverse shock index (rSI) multiplied by the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), has been proven superior at predicting outcomes in adult trauma patients and mortality in pediatric patients compared with traditional scoring systems. We sought to compare the accuracy of rSIG to Shock Index (SI) and SIPA in predicting the need for early interventions in civilian pediatric trauma patients. METHODS:Patients (aged 1-18 years) in the 2014 to 2018 Pediatric Trauma Quality Improvement Program database with complete heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and total GCS were included. Optimal cut points of rSIG were calculated for predicting blood transfusion within 4 hours, intubation, intracranial pressure monitoring, and intensive care unit admission. From the optimal thresholds, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve were calculated from receiver operating characteristics analyses to predict each outcome and compared with SI and SIPA. RESULTS:A total of 604,931 patients with a mean age of 11.1 years old were included. A minority of patients had a penetrating injury mechanism (5.6%) and the mean Injury Severity Score was 7.6. The mean SI and rSIG scores were 0.85 and 18.6, respectively. Reverse shock index multiplied by Glasgow Coma Scale performed better than SI and SIPA at predicting early trauma outcomes for the overall population, regardless of age. CONCLUSION:Reverse shock index multiplied by Glasgow Coma Scale outperformed SI and SIPA in the early identification of traumatically injured children at risk for early interventions, such as blood transfusion within 4 hours, intubation, intracranial pressure monitoring, and intensive care unit admission. Reverse shock index multiplied by Glasgow Coma Scale adds neurological status in initial patient assessment and may be used as a bedside triage tool to rapidly identify pediatric patients who will likely require early intervention and higher levels of care.

Decreased lung vascular growth and pulmonary hypertension contribute to poor outcomes in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). Mechanisms that impair angiogenesis in CDH are poorly understood. We hypothesize that decreased vessel growth in CDH is caused by pulmonary artery endothelial cell (PAEC) dysfunction with loss of a highly proliferative population of PAECs (HP-PAEC). PAECs were harvested from near-term fetal sheep that underwent surgical disruption of the diaphragm at 60-70 days gestational age. Highly proliferative potential was measured via single cell assay. PAEC function was assessed by assays of growth and tube formation and response to known proangiogenic stimuli, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and nitric oxide (NO). Western blot analysis was used to measure content of angiogenic proteins, and superoxide production was assessed. By single cell assay, the proportion of HP-PAEC with growth of >1,000 cells was markedly reduced in the CDH PAEC, from 29% (controls) to 1% (CDH) (P < 0.0001). Compared with controls, CDH PAEC growth and tube formation were decreased by 31% (P = 0.012) and 54% (P < 0.001), respectively. VEGF and NO treatments increased CDH PAEC growth and tube formation. VEGF and VEGF-R2 proteins were increased in CDH PAEC; however, eNOS and extracellular superoxide dismutase proteins were decreased by 29 and 88%, respectively. We conclude that surgically induced CDH in fetal sheep causes endothelial dysfunction and marked reduction of the HP-PAEC population. We speculate that this CDH PAEC phenotype contributes to impaired vascular growth in CDH.

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Introduction The first COVID-19 cases occurred in the US in January of 2020, leading to the implementation of shelter in place. This study seeks to define the impact of shelter in place on the epidemiology of pediatric trauma. Methods We examined pediatric trauma admissions at 5 Level 1 and 1 Level 2 US pediatric trauma centers between January 1 and June 30, 2017–2020. Demographic and injury data were compared between pre– and post–shelter in place patient cohorts. Results A total of 8772 pediatric trauma activations were reviewed. There was a 13% decrease in trauma volume in 2020, with a nadir at 16 days following implementation of shelter in place. Injury severity scores were higher in the post–shelter in place cohort. The incidence of nonmotorized vehicle accidents and gunshot wounds increased in the post–shelter in place cohort. Conclusion We found an overall decrease in pediatric trauma volume following shelter in place. However, injuries tended to be more severe. Our findings help inform targeted injury prevention campaigns during future pandemics.

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