The role of pediatric sequential organ failure assessment lactate score in predicting the clinical outcome of critically ill children: A single-center, prospective, observational study

Background: The Pediatric Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (pSOFA) score is a scoring system used to assess the severity of organ dysfunction in critically ill children. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the pSOFA lactate (pSOFA-L) score in predicting the clinical outcome of critically ill children. Subjects and Methods: This hospital-based, prospective, observational study was conducted in the pediatric intensive care unit of medical college from North India. A total of 100 children were included. Parameters pertaining to the various organ systems as designated in the pSOFA-L score were studied and compared the score with the clinical outcome. Results: In this study, there were 56 survivors and 44 nonsurvivors. On receiver operating characteristics curve analysis, the cutoff value of the pSOFA-L score in predicting mortality was 10 with a sensitivity of 81.8% and specificity of 85.7% and area under the curve: 0.882, which is statistically significant (P < 0.001). In the present study, the mortality rate was 11.3%, 18.2%, and 70.5% in children with pSOFA-L score <9, 9–11, and >11, respectively. On bivariate analysis of the survivor and nonsurvivor group, nonsurvivors had a significantly higher pSOFA-L score (P = 0.000). The mean lactate level was significantly higher among nonsurvivor group (3.02 ± 1.59 vs. 1.75 ± 1.19, P = 0.000). Conclusions: pSOFA-L score is accurate in predicting mortality, with a higher score indicating a poor outcome. The study also found a significant relationship between serum lactate levels and the pSOFA-L score, with higher lactate levels indicating a poor prognosis.