Contribution of social determinants of health on illness severity and outcomes of critically ill children: a retrospective cohort study using national clinical audit data – Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet)

There are many factors which affect how likely a child is to be admitted to children’s intensive care, and certain groups of children (for example children with underlying health conditions) are likely to be more seriously sick when admitted and have a higher chance of dying in hospital. Some research from the UK and other countries has shown that children coming from more deprived areas are more likely to be admitted to intensive care and have a higher risk of dying once admitted to intensive care. Research the UK and other countries also shows that children of minority race/ethnicity also have higher risk of dying in intensive care. However, most of the research from the UK uses data over a decade old.

This study will use a dataset called PICANet, which takes information from all children admitted to children’s intensive care in the United Kingdom, to understand whether factors, such as area level deprivation and individual race/ethnicity, affect how unwell a child is on admission to intensive care, how likely they are to die in intensive care and how long their hospital stay is likely to be. This study will also aim to investigate if environmental factors, for example air pollution, have any influence over intensive care admission or death in intensive care.

19/05/2023

25/04/2025