• Nadir Yehya, Hossein Fazelinia, Gladys G Lawrence, Lynn A Spruce, Mark V Mai, G Scott Worthen, and Jason D Christie.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
• Crit. Care Med. 2021 Jul 1; 49 (7): 114911581149-1158.

ObjectivesCirculating nucleosomes and their component histones have been implicated as pathogenic in sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome in adults. However, their role in pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome is unknown.DesignWe performed a prospective cohort study in children with acute respiratory distress syndrome, with plasma collection within 24 hours of acute respiratory distress syndrome onset. We associated nucleosome levels with severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome and with nonpulmonary organ failures and tested for association of nucleosomes with PICU mortality and ventilator-free days at 28 days in univariate and multivariable analyses. We also performed proteomics of DNA-bound plasma proteins in a matched case-control study of septic children with and without acute respiratory distress syndrome in order to identify specific histone proteins elevated in acute respiratory distress syndrome.SettingLarge academic tertiary-care PICU.PatientsIntubated children meeting Berlin criteria for acute respiratory distress syndrome.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsWe enrolled 333 children with acute respiratory distress syndrome, with 69 nonsurvivors (21%). Plasma nucleosomes were correlated with acute respiratory distress syndrome severity and with the number of nonpulmonary organ failures at acute respiratory distress syndrome onset. Nucleosomes were higher (p < 0.001) in nonsurvivors (0.40 [interquartile range, 0.20-0.71] arbitrary units) relative to survivors (0.10 [interquartile range, 0.04-0.25] arbitrary units). Nucleosomes were associated with PICU mortality in multivariable analysis (adjusted odds ratio 1.84 per 1 sd increase; 95% CI, 1.38-2.45; p < 0.001). Nucleosomes were also associated with a lower probability of being extubated alive by day 28 after multivariable adjustment (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.63-0.88; p = 0.001). Proteomic analysis demonstrated higher levels of the core nucleosome histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 in septic children with acute respiratory distress syndrome, relative to septic children without acute respiratory distress syndrome.ConclusionsPlasma nucleosomes are associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome severity, nonpulmonary organ failures, and worse outcomes in pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome.Copyright © 2021 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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