Performance of PRISM III and PIM 2 scores in a cancer pediatric intensive care unit

OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) III and Pediatric Index of Mortality (PIM) 2 scores in the pediatric intensive care unit. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study. Data were retrospectively collected from medical records of all patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of a cancer hospital from January 2017 to June 2018. RESULTS: The mean PRISM III score was 15, and PIM 2, 24%. From the 338 studied patients, 62 (18.34%) died. The PRISM III estimated mortality was 79.52 patients (23.52%) and for PIM 2 80.19 patients (23.72%), corresponding to a standardized mortality ratio (95% confidence interval: 0.78 for PRISM II and 0.77 for PIM 2). The Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-square test was 11.56, 8df, 0.975 for PRISM II and 0.48, 8df, p = 0.999 for PIM 2. The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was 0.71 for PRISM III and 0.76 for PIM 2. CONCLUSION: Both scores overestimated mortality and have shown a regular ability to discriminate between survivors and non-survivors. Models should be developed to quantify the severity of cancer pediatric patients in Pediatric Intensive Care Units and to predict the mortality risk accounting for their peculiarities.