Evaluating associations between late intensive care admission and mortality, intensive care days, and organ dysfunctions: a secondary analysis of data from the EPOCH cluster randomized trial

Purpose To determine whether late admission to pediatric intensive care (ICU) from hospital wards is associated with patient outcomes. Methods Secondary analysis of prospectively collected data from an international multicenter cluster-randomized trial. Clinical deterioration events with urgent ICU admission were defined as late if the Children’s Resuscitation Intensity Scale was > 2 (indicating critical care interventions started from 12 h pre- to 1 h post-urgent ICU admission). The association of late admission with primary outcomes (ICU and hospital mortality) was estimated using logistically generalized estimating equation models adjusted for PIM2 probability of death. Results There were 2979 clinical deterioration events in 2502 patients, including 620 (20.8%) late ICU admissions. ICU mortality of the last urgent ICU admission was 15.4% for late compared to 4.5% for non-late ICU admission (PIM-adjusted OR (95%CI) 1.63 (1.14, 2.33), p < 0.01). Hospital mortality was 19.7% in late compared to 6.0% for non-late urgent ICU admission (PIM-adjusted OR 1.56 (1.12, 2.16), p < 0.01). Late ICU admissions accounted for 20.9% of clinical deterioration events, and 90/179 (50.2.0%) of ICU and 103/222 (46.4%) of hospital deaths after clinical deterioration events. Secondary outcomes associated with late ICU admission included longer ICU stay (2.3 days, p = 0.02), more ventilation days (407/1000 ICU days, p < 0.0001), and more frequent treatment with dialysis, inhaled nitric oxide, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ( p < 0.01). Conclusion Late ICU admission from hospital wards was associated with higher ICU and hospital mortality, greater use of ICU technologies, and longer ICU stays. How to prevent late ICU admission and its consequences requires further study.