Biomarker Phenotype for Early Diagnosis and Triage of Sepsis to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Early diagnosis and triage of sepsis improves outcomes. We aimed to identify biomarkers that may advance diagnosis and triage of pediatric sepsis. Serum and plasma samples were collected from young children (1–23 months old) with sepsis on presentation to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU-sepsis, n = 46) or Pediatric Emergency Department (PED-sepsis, n = 58) and PED-non-sepsis patients (n = 19). Multivariate analysis was applied to distinguish between patient groups. Results were compared to our results for older children (2–17 years old). Common metabolites and protein-mediators were validated as potential biomarkers for a sepsis-triage model to differentiate PICU-sepsis from PED-sepsis in children age 1 month-17 years. Metabolomics in young children clearly separated the PICU-sepsis and PED-sepsis cohorts: sensitivity 0.71, specificity 0.93, and AUROC = 0.90 ± 0.03. Adding protein-mediators to the model did not improve performance. The seven metabolites common to the young and older children were used to create the sepsis-triage model. Validation of the sepsis-triage model resulted in sensitivity: 0.83 ± 0.02, specificity: 0.88 ± 0.05 and AUROC 0.93 ± 0.02. The metabolic-based biomarkers predicted which sepsis patients required care in a PICU versus those that could be safely cared for outside of a PICU. This has potential to inform appropriate triage of pediatric sepsis, particularly in EDs with less experience evaluating children.