Boletín médico del Hospital Infantil de México
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Bol Med Hosp Infant Mex · Dec 1993
Comparative Study[The validity of the index of pediatric mortality risk (PRISM) in a pediatric intensive care unit].
With the purpose to compare the observed and expected mortality rates (based on the PRISM score) in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of the "Hospital para el Niño Poblano", a prospective study of 92 patients admitted from August to December of 1992 was made. More than five percent of mortality risk was observed among 60.2% of the patients at the PICU admittance. ⋯ We observed that seven of ten patients who died with less than 50% mortality risk, had inotropic treatment previously to PICU admittance, there was no haemodynamic alterations in these patients at the PICU admittance, and the PRISM score was low. We suggest that the PRISM score should be interpreted with caution in those patients whose treatment may change the physiologic variables included in the PRISM score.