Incidence and predictors of mortality among children admitted to intensive care unit in tertiary hospitals of West Oromia, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND

Child mortality related to intensive care unit admission is a contributor to child death, which is preventable to some extent if identified early. This study aimed to determine the incidence and predictors of mortality among children admitted to intensive care units in tertiary hospitals in West Ethiopia.

METHODS

A retrospective follow-up study involving 578 admitted children from June 1, 2018, to May 30, 2023, was conducted in western Ethiopia. Data was entered into Epi-Data and then exported to STATA version 14 for analysis. The Cox proportional hazard assumption was checked. The best-fitted model for the data analysis was chosen based on the Akaike information criteria. The hazard ratio was used to measure the strength of the association at p-value <0.05 with 95 % CI.

RESULT

578 charts were reviewed, and two hundred (34.6 %) children died. The incidence of mortality was 42.5 deaths per 1000-day observations. The median survival time was 15 days (95 % CI: 13 to 18). The need for Inotropes (AHR 2.1; 95 % CI: 1.34-3.09], complications in ICU (AHR 3.5, 95 % CI: 2.2-5.78], GCS < 8 (AHR 1.72, 95 % CI: 1.22-2.46], acute kidney injury (AHR 2.0, 95 % CI: 1.12-3.59] and Age < 5 years (AHR 1.91, 95 % CI: 1.26-2.896] were independent predictors of mortality.

CONCLUSION

The incidence of mortality was 42.5 deaths per 1000 pediatric day observations. Acute kidney injury, the need for inotropes, age < 5 years, low Glasgow coma scale, and complications developed in the intensive care unit were independent predictors of death.