• Tareq Al-Ayed, Iyad B Alsarhi, Abdullah Alturki, Fahad Aljofan, Tariq Alofisan, Moath Al Abdulsalam, Deema Gashgarey, Rwan Alrwili, Wala Aldihan, Saleh Badr Bin Mahfodh, Fawaz Alanzi, Ahmed M Otaibi, and Raghad Tariq Alhuthil.
• From the Critical Care Medicine Department, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• Ann Saudi Med. 2023 Sep 1; 43 (5): 283290283-290.

BackgroundIn adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) has been associated with higher mortality rates. Therefore, its use in children with ARDS is still controversial.ObjectivesEvaluate the overall mortality of HFOV in children with ARDS and explore mortality-related risk factors; compare the outcome of using HFOV post-endotracheal intubation early (≤24 hours) versus late (≤24 hours).DesignRetrospective (medical record review) SETTING: Pediatric intensive care unit in a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia.Patients And MethodsData were collected from medical records of all pediatric patients with ARDS aged one week to 14 years, who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from January 2016-June 2019 and who required HFOV.Main Outcome MeasuresPICU mortality.Sample Size And Characteristics135 ARDS patients including 74 females (54.8%), and 61 males (45.2%), with a median age (interquar-tile range) of 35 (72) months.ResultsThe overall mortality rate was 60.0% (81/135), and most died in the first 28 days in the PICU (91.3%, 74/8). Of non-survivors, 75.3% (61/81) were immunocompromised, and 24.7% (20/81) were immuno-competent patients, 52 (64.2%) received inotropic support, 40 (49.4%) had a bone-marrow transplant (BMT) before HFOV initiation. Although the prone position was used in 20.7% (28/135) to improve the survival rate post-HFOV ventilation, only 28.6% (8/28) survived. In addition, altered code status or chemotherapy reported a significant association with mortality (P<.05). Interestingly, early HFOV initiation (≤24 hours) did not seem to have a high impact on survival compared to late initiation (>24 hours); (57.4% vs. 42.6%, P=.721).ConclusionImmunocompromised and oncology patients, including post-BMT, reported poorer outcomes, and neither the prone position nor early use of HFOV improved outcomes. However, it is recommended to replicate the study in a larger cohort to generalize the results.LimitationsRetrospective single-center study.

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