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. 2021 Dec 1;22(12):1061-1071.
doi: 10.1097/PCC.0000000000002800.

Overall Health Following Pediatric Critical Illness: A Scoping Review of Instruments and Methodology

Erin F Carlton  1   2 , Neethi Pinto  3 , McKenna Smith  4 , Ericka L Fink  5 , R Scott Watson  6   7 , K Sarah Hoehn  8 , Neelima Marupudi  9 , Leslie A Dervan  6   9 , Mellanye Lackey  10 , Melissa Ringwood  4 , Aline B Maddux  11 ; the POST-PICU Investigators of the PALISI Network and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network
Affiliations

Overall Health Following Pediatric Critical Illness: A Scoping Review of Instruments and Methodology

Erin F Carlton et al. Pediatr Crit Care Med. .

Abstract

Objectives: Families identify overall health as a key outcome after pediatric critical illness. We conducted a planned secondary analysis of a scoping review to determine the methods, populations, and instruments used to evaluate overall health outcomes for both children and their families after critical illness.

Design: Planned Secondary Analysis of a Scoping Review.

Setting: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry databases from 1970 to 2017 to identify studies which measured postdischarge overall health of children who survived critical illness and their families.

Subjects: Articles reporting overall health outcomes after pediatric critical illness.

Interventions: None.

Measurements and main results: Among the 407 articles which measured outcomes following pediatric critical illness, 161 (40%) measured overall health. The overall health domain was most commonly measured in traumatic brain injury (44%) and the general PICU populations (16%). In total, there were 39 unique measures used to evaluate overall health. Across all subjects, seven measures accounted for 89% of instruments, with the Glasgow Outcome Scale (47%) and the Pediatric Overall Performance Category (17%) being most commonly used. Excluding studies targeting survivors of traumatic brain injury, Pediatric Overall Performance Category, Glasgow Outcome Scale, and the General Health Questionnaire were the most commonly used instruments. Patients were followed for a median 10.5 months (interquartile range, 4.5-21 mo).

Conclusions: Overall health was commonly assessed post-PICU discharge, especially in the traumatic brain injury population, using a heterogenous array of measures. Evaluation and consensus are imperative to identify the most appropriate method to measure overall health with the goal of improving care efficacy and facilitating recovery across populations of critically ill children.

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Conflict of interest statement

Drs. Carlton, Fink, Ringwood, and Maddux received support for article research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Drs. Fink’s, Ringwood’s, and Maddux’s institutions received funding from the NIH. Drs. Ringwood’s and Maddux’s institutions received funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Dr. Ringwood received funding from employment by contracted data coordinating center; she disclosed work for hire. Dr. Maddux’s institution received funding from the Francis Family Foundation. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Number of manuscripts evaluating overall health outcomes after pediatric critical illness. The number of studies evaluating survivorship of pediatric critically ill children and, specifically, evaluation of the overall health domain have increased over the last two decades. This increase is notable in manuscripts targeting children who survived a traumatic brain injury as well as other pediatric critically ill populations.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Overall health is often measured with other outcome domains following pediatric critical illness, most often Social Health and Cognitive Health.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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