Table 2.
Demographics and medical characteristics of participants included in the physical growth analysis
| Demographics and medical characteristics of participants | Healthy control children N = 331 |
PICU-patients N = 627 |
p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | |||
| Age upon PICU admission | |||
| Median (IQR)—years | 1.7 (0.2–5.4) | 1.5 (0.2–5.5) | 0.97 |
| Mean (SD)—years | 3.5 (4.4) | 3.7 (4.7) | |
| Age at 2-year follow-up | |||
| Median (IQR)—years | 3.5 (2.6–7.3) | 3.3 (2.6–7.5) | 0.66 |
| Mean (SD)—years | 5.6 (4.2) | 5.8 (4.6) | |
| Age at 4-year follow-up | |||
| Median (IQR)—years | 5.4 (4.4–9.2) | 5.2 (4.4–9.3) | 0.83 |
| Mean (SD)—years | 7.5 (4.3) | 7.7 (4.6) | |
| Gender | |||
| Male—no (%) | 178 (53.8) | 370 (59.0) | 0.15 |
| Female—no (%) | 153 (46.2) | 257 (41.0) | |
| Known non-Caucasian racea—no (%) | 23 (7.0) | 48 (7.7) | 0.68 |
| Known non-European origina—no (%) | 39 (11.8) | 105 (16.8) | 0.03 |
| Medical characteristics | |||
| Height upon PICU admission—mean (SD)—cm | 90.4 (35.0) | 89.0 (36.5) | 0.56 |
| Weight upon PICU admission—mean (SD)—kg | 16.1 (14.6) | 15.4 (15.1) | 0.47 |
| STRONGkids risk levelb | – | ||
| Medium—no (%) | NA | 560 (89.3) | – |
| High—no (%) | NA | 67 (10.7) | – |
| PeLOD score, first 24 h in PICUc—mean (SD) | NA | 21.4 (11.4) | – |
| PIM3 scored – mean (SD) | NA | -3.5 (1.3) | – |
| PIM3 probability of deathe (%)—mean (SD) | NA | 6.3 (11.4) | – |
| Diagnostic category | – | ||
| Surgical | |||
| Abdominal—no (%) | NA | 49 (7.8) | |
| Burns—no (%) | NA | 2 (0.3) | |
| Cardiac—no (%) | NA | 287 (45.8) | |
| Neurosurgery-Traumatic brain injury—no (%) | NA | 53 (8.5) | |
| Thoracic—no (%) | NA | 33 (5.3) | |
| Transplantation—no (%) | NA | 11 (1.8) | |
| Orthopaedic surgery-Trauma—no (%) | NA | 30 (4.8) | |
| Other—no (%) | NA | 22 (3.5) | |
| Medical | |||
| Cardiac—no (%) | NA | 21 (3.6) | |
| Gastrointestinal-Hepatic—no (%) | NA | 3 (0.5) | |
| Oncologic-Haematologic—no (%) | NA | 3 (0.5) | |
| Neurologic—no (%) | NA | 38 (6.1) | |
| Renal—no (%) | NA | 0 (0.0) | |
| Respiratory—no (%) | NA | 48 (7.7) | |
| Other—no (%) | NA | 27 (4.3) | |
| Malignancy—no (%) | 0 (0.0) | 34 (5.4) | < 0.0001 |
| Syndromef—no (%) | 1 (0.3) | 113 (18.0) | < 0.0001 |
Bold indicates a statistically significant difference between groups
aParticipants were classified according to race and geographical origin by the investigators
bScores on the Screening Tool for Risk on Nutritional Status and Growth (STRONGkids) range from 0 to 5, with a score of 0 indicating a low risk of malnutrition, a score of 1 to 3 indicating medium risk, and a score of 4 to 5 indicating high risk
cPaediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction (PeLOD) scores range from 0 to 71, with higher scores indicating more severe illness
dPaediatric Index of Mortality 3 (PIM3) scores, with higher scores indicating a higher risk of mortality
ePaediatric Index of Mortality 3 (PIM3) probability of death
fA pre-randomisation syndrome or illness a priori defined as affecting or possibly affecting development (Additional file 3)
IQR interquartile range; NA not applicable; no number; PeLOD paediatric logistic organ dysfunction score; PICU paediatric intensive care unit; PIM3 paediatric index of mortality 3 score; SD standard deviation