European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate children's cognitive and overall performance affected by admission to the pediatric critical care unit. Methods: It was a prospective observational study conducted over a 12-month period at the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of the Shyam Shah Medical College, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, and Gandhi Memorial Hospital. 200 children (100 PICU admissions and 100 Ward admissions) between the ages of 28 days and 17 years who had been committed to the PICU for at least 24 hours were selected using a technique of purposive sampling. The indicators used to evaluate the child's performance were (i) The Glasgow Outcome Scale, (ii) the Functional Status Scale (FSS), (iii) The Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category Scale (PCPC), and (iv) The Pediatric Overall Performance Category Scale (POPC). Results: A total of 200 pediatric ICU study subjects were included in this study. The majority of them were females. Most of the study population was classified as Grade 1 on the PCPC Score and Grade 2 on the POPC Score. The mean (SD) PRISM-IV score was 4.07 (4.91), the PCPC score was 1.50 (0.98), and the POPC score was 2.30 (1.12) at the time of admission. The mean duration of stay for patients admitted to the PICU was 9.55 (5.82) days, while those admitted to the ward had a mean duration of 6.64 (3.92) days. Most of the study population was discharged in Grade 1 of PCPC and POPC. The mean (SD) PCPC score was 1.82 (1.53) and the POPC score was 2.25 (1.52) at discharge. Conclusion: Compared to patients confined to the Ward, patients admitted to the PICU showed inadequate cerebral and overall performance.