Factors associated with mortality in intracranial infection patients admitted to pediatric intensive care unit: A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Intracranial infection is a major cause of emergency and death in children. To assist clinical decision-making in patient management, we conducted a study about factors associated with mortality. This study aimed to evaluate factors associated with mortality in pediatric patients with intracranial infection. METHODS: We performed a cohort retrospective study in our tertiary hospital to evaluate the outcomes of patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from 2014 to 2018. The Chi-square test was performed to determine the significance of the predictor, and p < 0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant result. We used multivariate logistic regression to determine relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: We recruited 112 patients who were admitted to the PICU of our tertiary hospital. A total of 38.4% were diagnosed with encephalitis, 9.8% meningitis and 51.8% meningoencephalitis. Of the 112 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 28 (25%) patients died in the PICU. The need of mechanical ventilation support variable had a statistically significant association with mortality (RR 22.76; 95% CI: 3.88–51.45). CONCLUSION: Recognition of conditions that exacerbate intracranial infection in children needs to be done as early as possible. Moreover, the need of mechanical ventilation support in the PICU needs more attention.