Mortality and Factors Related in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Patients Treated with Vancomycin

Abstract There is limited information available regarding clinical outcome and rate of mortality in relation to invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients treated with vancomycin in this tertiary hospital in northern Thailand. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is recommended vancomycin prescription; however, it is important to investigate the outcome of this monitoring in PICU patients. This study aims to evaluate the mortality and factors related to these in PICU patients treated with vancomycin. A retrospective study was conducted in PICU patients given vancomycin from April 2018 to April 2019. The following variables were included: age, sex, underlying disease, diagnosis, length of stay (LOS) in PICU, Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 (PIM 2) score, mechanical ventilator use, renal replacement therapy (RRT), laboratory data, vancomycin dose, trough serum vancomycin concentration (Ctrough) and mortality rate. One hundred and sixty pediatric patients were enrolled into the study (median age 12 months, range 2-180 months, 69.4% male). Ctrough of vancomycin (10–20 mg/L) was recorded in 32.5% (n = 52) of cases. Septic shock was the most common diagnosis (49.3%) and the mortality rate was 39.4%. Results indicated that children who had a vancomycin Ctrough outside the therapeutic range, mechanical ventilator use and RRT use were statistically significantly associated with higher mortality rate (adjusted OR 3.29, 95% CI, 1.41-7.69; P <0.05), (adjusted OR 6.22, 95% CI, 1.67-23.16; P < 0.05) and (adjusted OR 10.41, 95% CI, 2.62-41.37; P < 0.05). These factors were related to mortality and further studies are needed to determine if this outcome can be improved. Keywords: Vancomycin, Vancomycin trough concentration, Pediatric patients, Intensive care, Mortality, Factors related to mortality