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Abstract

Background & objective: Early recognition of organ dysfunction and timely intervention are essential for improved patient outcomes. The Pediatric Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (pSOFA) score is designed to assess organ dysfunction in critically ill children. This study aims to evaluate the pSOFA score in predicting the mortality in critically ill oncology patients admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
Methodology: This was a retrospective review of all the pediatric oncology patients admitted to the PICU from March 2023 to September 2023. pSOFA score were calculated on day 1 and day 3 of PICU admission. Outcome measures like length of PICU stay and the mortality were calculated. The data was entered in SPSS 27.0. The qualitative data were compared with the outcome by using Fisher’s exact test, and the Mann-Whitney test was used for the quantitative variables.
Results: Fifty-four patients were recruited in the present study, of which 31 (57.4%) were male and 23 (42.6%) were female. Out of 54, the majority of the patients - 37 (68.5%) survived, while 17 (31.5%) died. The median age for the surviving patients and those who died was five months (P = 0.851). The median length of PICU stay was longer, 9 days for those who died compared to those who survived, 7 days (P = 0.808) The median pSOFA score on day 1 and day 3 was significantly higher for the deceased group compared to the group of survived children (P = 0.001).
Conclusion: The findings of our study highlight that a high pSOFA score is a reliable predictor of mortality in pediatric oncology septic patients and is significantly associated with higher mortality risk.
Keywords:  pSOFA score; critical care; mortality; oncology; children; sepsis
Citation: Jalil M, Omer S, Khanum A, Ajmal MU, Ali H. Pediatric Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (pSOFA) scoring as a predictor of mortality in critically unwell oncology patients with sepsis: an experience from an ICU of a cancer center. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2025;29(3):377-383. DOI: 10.35975/apic.v29i3.2787
Received: December 30, 2024; Revised: March 16, 2025; Accepted: March 23, 2025