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Mechanical ventilation in children

Tanil Kendirli1, Asli Kavaz, Zahide Yalaki

  • 1Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.

The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
|February 13, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Mechanical ventilation in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) is linked to significant complications and a high mortality rate, exceeding 58% in treated children. This highlights a critical need for more research on pediatric mechanical ventilation outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric critical care medicine
  • Respiratory physiology
  • Intensive care unit management

Background:

  • Mechanical ventilation is essential for critically ill children but associated with substantial complications.
  • Prolonged ventilatory support increases the risk of adverse events in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To retrospectively evaluate the incidence, indications, complications, and mortality associated with mechanical ventilation in a PICU.
  • To provide epidemiological data on the outcomes of mechanically ventilated children.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective review of medical records from 407 pediatric patients admitted to the PICU.
  • Analysis of data for 91 patients (22.3%) who received mechanical ventilation between January 2002 and May 2005.
  • Categorization of indications, complications, and mortality rates.

Main Results:

  • The primary indications for mechanical ventilation were respiratory failure (64.8%), cardiovascular failure (19.7%), and central nervous system disease (9.8%).
  • The complication rate among mechanically ventilated children was 42.8%, with atelectasis (26.3%) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (17.5%) being most common.
  • The mortality rate for mechanically ventilated patients was 58.3%, significantly higher than the overall PICU mortality rate of 12.2%.

Conclusions:

  • Mechanical ventilation in children is associated with a high complication and mortality rate.
  • There is a lack of comprehensive epidemiological data regarding the long-term follow-up and mortality of infants and children requiring mechanical ventilation.

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