Objective: To identify urinary catheter (UC)–associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) incidence and risk factors.Design: A prospective cohort study.Setting: The study was conducted across 623 ICUs of 224 hospitals in 114 cities in 37 African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries.Participants: The study included 169,036 patients, hospitalized for 1,166,593 patient days.Methods: Data collection took place from January 1, 2014, to February 12, 2022. We identified CAUTI rates per 1,000 UC days and UC device utilization (DU) ratios stratified by country, by ICU type, by facility ownership type, by World Bank country classification by income level, and by UC type. To estimate CAUTI risk factors, we analyzed 11 variables using multiple logistic regression.Results: Participant patients acquired 2,010 CAUTIs. The pooled CAUTI rate was 2.83 per 1,000 UC days. The highest CAUTI rate was associated with the use of suprapubic catheters (3.93 CAUTIs per 1,000 UC days); with patients hospitalized in Eastern Europe (14.03) and in Asia (6.28); with patients hospitalized in trauma (7.97), neurologic (6.28), and neurosurgical ICUs (4.95); with patients hospitalized in lower–middle-income countries (3.05); and with patients in public hospitals (5.89).The following variables were independently associated with CAUTI: Age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.01; P < .0001), female sex (aOR, 1.39; P < .0001), length of stay (LOS) before CAUTI-acquisition (aOR, 1.05; P < .0001), UC DU ratio (aOR, 1.09; P < .0001), public facilities (aOR, 2.24; P < .0001), and neurologic ICUs (aOR, 11.49; P < .0001).Conclusions: CAUTI rates are higher in patients with suprapubic catheters, in middle-income countries, in public hospitals, in trauma and neurologic ICUs, and in Eastern European and Asian facilities.Based on findings regarding risk factors for CAUTI, focus on reducing LOS and UC utilization is warranted, as well as implementing evidence-based CAUTI-prevention recommendations.

Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) is defined as the veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) support in a patient who experienced a sudden pulseless condition attributable to cessation of cardiac mechanical activity and circulation. We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of our ECPR experience in a pediatric patient population. Between September 2014 and November 2017, fifteen children were supported with ECPR following in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) in our hospitals. VA-ECMO setting was established for all patients. Pediatric cerebral performance category (PCPC) scales and long-term neurological prognosis of the survivors were assessed. The median age of the study population was 60 (4-156) months. The median weight was 18 (4.8-145) kg, height was 115 (63-172) cm, and body surface area was 0.73 (0.27-2.49) m2. The cause of cardiac arrest was a cardiac and circulatory failure in 12 patients (80%) and non-cardiac in 20%. Dysrhythmia was present in 46%, septic shock in 13%, bleeding in 6%, low cardiac output syndrome in 13%, and airway disease in 6% of the study population. Median low-flow time was 95 (range 20-320) minutes. Central VA-ECMO cannulation was placed in only 2 (13.3%) cases. However, the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was obtained in 10 (66.6%) patients, and 5 (50%) of them survived. Overall, five patients discharged from the hospital. Finally, survival following ECPR was 33.3%, and all survivors were neurologically intact at hospital-discharge. ECPR can be a life-saving therapeutic strategy using a promising technology in the pediatric IHCA population. For better survival rates, early initiation, well-coordinated, skilled, and dedicated ECMO team is the mainstay.

Objective: Therapeutic plasma exchange has been used as a primary or supportive treatment in many diseases in recent years and has achieved satisfactory results in lots of diseases in children. Therapeutic plasma exchange procedure is changing plasma component of a patient's blood with the new plasma as a replacement solution. The aim of this study is to share our experience of therapeutic plasma exchange on varying indications in critically ill children who were accepted to our pediatric intensive care unit. Materials and Methods: We conducted this study between December 2010 and February 2020, retrospectively. Patients’ data such as age, sex, indication, number of sessions, vascular access route, and type of replacement fluid used were obtained from medical records. Indications for therapeutic plasma exchange were classified according to the 2019 American Society for Apheresis categorization. The patient’s follow-up, clinical courses, therapeutic plasma exchange season count, complications, and outcome were evaluated according to each indications and their overall condition. Results: This study included a total of the 84 patients who underwent therapeutic plasma exchange, and their median (minimum-maximum) ages were 7.07 years (0.2-18), 57.1% were male (n = 48) and 42.9% were female (n = 36). A total of 463 sessions of therapeutic plasma exchange were performed in 84 patients. The most common indication was thrombocytopenia-associated multi-organ failure with sepsis (40.4%, n = 34) followed by liver failure/hepatic encephalopathy (28.5%, n = 24) and autoimmune encephalitis (9.5%, n = 8), and according to The American Society for Apheresis 2019 category, patients distributions were as follows: 15.4% of the patients were placed in category 1 (n = 13), 5.9% in category 2 (n = 5), 77.3% in category 3 (n = 65), and 1.1% in category 4 (n = 1). Therapeutic plasma exchange was combined to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in 10 patients (11.9%) and continuous renal replacement therapies in 39 (46.4%) patients. Finally, the survival rate was 50% in all patients, and the lowest survival rate was 41.5% (n = 27) in category 3 group. Conclusion: Therapeutic plasma exchange is enlarging to varying indications and showing to be more effective on a lot of disorders in children. Also, it is available in pediatric age groups and in different states like combined with other extracorporeal therapies. Cite this article as: Gökcan Öztürk A, Erva Küçük Z, Özcan S, et al. Use of therapeutic plasma exchange in the pediatric intensive care unit. Turk Arch Pediatr. 2022;57(2):186-192.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of patients admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit for poisoning and the factors associated with their outcomes. Materials and Methods: Patients who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit for poisoning over the 11-year period between January 2010 and December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients’ demographic characteristics, poisoning agent, whether the poisoning was unintentional or intentional (suicide attempt), clinical findings at admission, indication for hospitalization, antidote administered, and supportive and extracorporeal treatments were examined. Results: During the study period, poisonings accounted for 9.4% (436/4653) of pediatric intensive care unit admissions. Of these, 419 patients with complete records were included in the analysis. Drug poisonings accounted for 81.9% of cases (multiple drugs in 38.5%). The most common drug group was central nervous system drugs (47%). Of the symptomatic patients, 56.5% had central nervous system-related findings and 55% had gastrointestinal findings. Before pediatric intensive care unit admission, 52.7% of the patients received activated charcoal and 7.4% received antidote therapy. In the pediatric intensive care unit, 68.9% of patients received no medical treatment, while 71.5% of those who received medical treatment had organ involvement. Multivariate logistic regression analysis to predict whether patients will require treatment during the intensive care follow-up showed that antidote administration before pediatric intensive care unit admission was associated with the need for medical treatment (odds ratio: 25.6, 95% CI: 6.8-96, P < .05). Three patients died, and the mortality rate was 0.72%. Conclusion: Childhood poisoning is a widespread and important problem. Effective management in pediatric emergency and intensive care units contributes to patient survival without sequelae. Cite this article as: Gurbanov A, Çelik NA, Gurbanova L, et al. Clinical and laboratory features and factors determining the outcome in poisoning children in a tertiary pediatric intensive care unit: Eleven years of experience. Turk Arch Pediatr. 2023;58(2):189-196