Machine Learning Predicts Prolonged Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure in Pediatric Severe Influenza

Influenza virus is a major cause of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. Early identification of patients who will suffer severe complications can help stratify patients for clinical trials and plan for resource use in case of pandemic.

We aimed to identify which clinical variables best predict prolonged acute hypoxemic respiratory failure in influenza-infected critically ill children. Acute hypoxemic respiratory failure was defined using hypoxemia cutoffs from international consensus definitions of acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with ventilatory support. Prolonged acute hypoxemic respiratory failure was defined by acute hypoxemic respiratory failure criteria still present at PICU day 7.

In this prospective multicenter study across 34 PICUs from November 2009 to April 2018, we included children (< 18 yr) without comorbid risk factors for severe disease.

We used a Monte Carlo cross validation method with N ² random train-test splits at a 70-30% proportion per model.

Using clinical data at admission (day 1) and closest to 8 am on PICU day 2, we calculated the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve using random forests machine learning algorithms and logistic regression.

We included 258 children (median age = 6.5 yr) and 11 (4.2%) died. By day 2, 65% (n = 165) had acute hypoxemic respiratory failure dropping to 26% (n = 67) with prolonged acute hypoxemic respiratory failure by day 7. Those with prolonged acute hypoxemic respiratory failure had a longer ICU stay (16.5 vs 4.0 d; p < 0.001) and higher mortality (13.4% vs 1.0%). A multivariable model using random forests with 10 admission and eight day 2 variables performed best (0.93 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; 95 CI%: 0.90-0.95) where respiratory rate, Fio₂, and pH on day 2 were the most important factors.

In this prospective multicentric study, most children with influenza virus-related respiratory failure with prolonged acute hypoxemic respiratory failure can be identified early in their hospital course applying machine learning onto routine clinical data. Further validation is needed prior to bedside implementation.