Table 3.

Characteristics of the patients recruited in the included studies

	Acutely ill children	Critically ill children	No distinction possible between acute and critically ill children
PICO 1	11 studies Total: 2268 patients Gastroenteritis n = 737 Bronchiolitis n = 759 Meningitis n = 357 Newborns with hyperbilirubinemia n = 164 Post tonsillectomy n = 50 Pancreatitis n = 201	1 study Total: 186 term newborns	0
PICO 2	14 studies Total: 3444 patients Respiratory failure n = 229 Surgery n = 229 Central nervous system infection n = 92 Various diagnosis n = 2894	10 studies Total: 1692 patients Surgery n = 207 Neurosurgery n = 82 Term neonates n = 108 Various diagnosis n = 1295	1 study Total: 294 patients Various diagnosis
PICO 3	7 studies Total: 1849 patients Gastroenteritis n = 187 Pancreatitis n = 1581 Sepsis n = 50 DKA n = 31	3 studies Total: 660 patients DKA n = 35 Neurosurgery n = 82 Various diagnosis n = 543	2 studies Total: 130 patients Neurosurgery n = 53 DKA n = 77
PICO 4	0	4 studies Total: 745 patients Post-surgery n = 130 Post cardiac surgery n = 607 Post craniosynostosis n = 8	0
PICO 5	3 studies Total: 279 patients Meningitis n = 50 Post-surgery n = 62 Various diagnosis n = 167	5 studies Total: 471 patients Neurosurgery n = 82 Respiratory failure n = 23 Various diagnosis n = 366	0

DKA diabetic keto acidosis