Hematologic Dysfunction Criteria in Critically Ill Children: The PODIUM Consensus Conference

Studies of organ dysfunction in children are limited by a lack of consensus around organ dysfunction criteria.

To derive evidence-informed, consensus-based criteria for hematologic dysfunction in critically ill children.

Data sources included PubMed and Embase from January 1992 to January 2020.

Studies were included if they evaluated assessment/scoring tools to screen for hematologic dysfunction and assessed outcomes of mortality, functional status, organ-specific outcomes, or other patient-centered outcomes. Studies of adults or premature infants, animal studies, reviews/commentaries, small case series, and non-English language studies with inability to determine eligibility were excluded.

Data were abstracted from each eligible study into a standard data extraction form along with risk of bias assessment.

Twenty-nine studies were included. The systematic review supports the following criteria for hematologic dysfunction: thrombocytopenia (platelet count <100000 cells/µL in patients without hematologic or oncologic diagnosis, platelet count <30000 cells/µL in patients with hematologic or oncologic diagnoses, or platelet count decreased ≥50% from baseline; or leukocyte count <3000 cells/µL; or hemoglobin concentration between 5 and 7 g/dL (nonsevere) or <5 g/dL (severe).

Most studies evaluated pre-specified thresholds of cytopenias. No studies addressed associations between the etiology or progression of cytopenias overtime with outcomes, and no studies evaluated cellular function.

Hematologic dysfunction, as defined by cytopenia, is a risk factor for poor outcome in critically ill children, although specific threshold values associated with increased mortality are poorly defined by the current literature.