Evaluation of trauma patients followed up in our pediatric intensive care unit

Objective: In this study, it was planned to present the demographic data of trauma patients during their follow-up in the pediatric intensive care unit, and in the light of laboratory, radiological, clinical findings and various scoring systems, to evaluate the duration of intensive care hospitalization, respiratory and circulatory support requirements, and the correlation of these with the findings, and its place in the prognosis. Material and Method: In this study, the cases followed up in our pediatric intensive care unit between July 2018 and June 2019 due to trauma were examined. Demographic, laboratory, radiological and clinical findings of the 49 included patients were prospectively recorded. Form of admission, intensive care unit and hospital stay duration, trauma mechanisms and affected organ systems were recorded. The patients were evaluated with GCS, PTS, ISS, AIS, PRISM III and PELOD scores. Intraabdominal pressure measurement, EEG examination and NIRS follow-up were performed. IBM SPSS version 20.0 software was used for statistical analysis of the data. Descriptive statistics were shown as mean, median, standard deviation, minimum-maximum values, where necessary. Findings: When the mechanical ventilation needs were evaluated according to vital signs, it was found that the patients who had bradypnea for their age had a higher need for mechanical ventilation (p=0.004). While 66.7% of patients who were hypotensive for their age needed mechanical ventilation, 12.5% and 9.1% of normotensive and hypertensive patients required mechanical ventilation, respectively, and this was found to be statistically significant (p=0.005). The mean ICU stay of patients with GCS ≤ 8 was 7.00 ± 4.00 days and the mean ICU stay of patients with GCS ≥ 13 was 3.66 ± 2.45 days. This was found to be statistically significant (p=0.02). There was a statistically significant difference in the duration of intensive care unit stay (p = 0.005) and hospital stay (p = 0.02) in patients receiving blood products compared to patients not receiving blood products. Patients were classified as receiving inotropic support and those not requiring inotropic support. When the duration of intensive care unit stay (p = 0.005) and hospital stay (p = 0.01) were compared between the two groups, a statistically significant difference was found. Conclusion: In our study, the effect of vital signs and trauma scores of pediatric trauma patients on morbidity and length of stay in intensive care unit was clearly seen and the importance of treatment and follow-up of appropriate patients in experienced centers was demonstrated.