Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr 29:13:1546408.
doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1546408. eCollection 2025.

Utility of the neonatal and pediatric sequential organ failure assessment scores in critically ill term neonates

Lara Nicolas  1 , James L Wynn  1 , Diomel de la Cruz  1
Affiliations

Utility of the neonatal and pediatric sequential organ failure assessment scores in critically ill term neonates

Lara Nicolas et al. Front Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: The pediatric sequential organ failure assessment (pSOFA) and neonatal SOFA (nSOFA) scores are used to assess organ dysfunction and predict mortality in critically ill children and neonates. However, their utility in predicting mortality in term neonates admitted to pediatric ICU/pediatric cardiac ICU (PICU/PCICU) and neonatal ICU (NICU) remains unknown.

Methods: We conducted a single-center retrospective cohort study of electronic health records of 4,403 and 379 term neonates admitted to NICU and PICU/PCICU, respectively. Hourly pSOFA and nSOFA scores were calculated. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. The area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for mortality was calculated.

Results: Both scores predicted mortality in both settings (AUROC range, 0.79-0.95). The pSOFA showed a larger difference between survivors and non-survivors in the PICU/PCICU cohort, while nSOFA captured critical mortality risk factors in neonates across both settings.

Conclusions: Both pSOFA and nSOFA predicted mortality with good to very good discrimination in critically ill term neonates admitted to PICU/PCICU and NICU settings.

Keywords: NICU; PICU; nSOFA; organ dysfunction; pSOFA; pediatric cardiac ICU; term neonate.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Matics TJ, Sanchez-Pinto LN. Adaptation and validation of a pediatric sequential organ failure assessment score and evaluation of the sepsis-3 definitions in critically ill children. JAMA Pediatr. (2017) 171(10):e172352. 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.2352 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mohamed El-Mashad G, Said El-Mekkawy M, Helmy Zayan M. Paediatric sequential organ failure assessment (pSOFA) score: a new mortality prediction score in the paediatric intensive care unit. An Pediatr. (2020) 92(5):277–85. 10.1016/j.anpedi.2019.05.018 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wynn JL, Polin RA. A neonatal sequential organ failure assessment score predicts mortality to late-onset sepsis in preterm very low birth weight infants. Pediatr Res. (2020) 88(1):85–90. 10.1038/s41390-019-0517-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wynn JL, Mayampurath A, Carey K, Slattery S, Andrews B, Sanchez-Pinto LN. Multicenter validation of the neonatal sequential organ failure assessment score for prognosis in the neonatal intensive care unit. J Pediatr. (2021) 236:297–300.e1. 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.05.037 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Balamuth F, Scott HF, Weiss SL, Webb M, Chamberlain JM, Bajaj L, et al. Validation of the pediatric sequential organ failure assessment score and evaluation of third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock definitions in the pediatric emergency department. JAMA Pediatr. (2022) 176(7):672–78. 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.1301 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources