A hospital-based prospective study of shock among hospitalized children below 12 years of age

Abstract Background: At present, the statistics say that shock accounts for 2% of patients admitted in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) globally.Once diagnosed, shock has to be managed aggressively. The first hour is considered the golden hour. Evaluation and treatment of the underlying cause should proceed simultaneously. Objective: The objective is to study the outcome of shock among hospitalized children below 12 years of age. Materials and Methods: Hospital-based prospective analytical study conducted among 200 children aged 1 month to 12 years presenting with shock (or) who later develop shock during PICU stay. Qualifying patients underwent detailed history, clinical examination, and laboratory investigations. Results: As per the present study, females who were admitted with shock, 39.6% belonged to the age group of up to 12 months. However, among males, a higher percentage (34.9%) of patients were in the age group of 1–5 years. 123 (61.5%) patients had no comorbidities followed by 24 (12%) patients having cardiac disorders. The most common etiology of shock was septic in 38.5% of cases, followed by hypovolemic in 34% of the cases. About 67% of the cases required inotropes, and among them, only 6.7% required more than two. Decompensated shock was seen in 73.5% of the cases. About 76.5% of the cases had a shock duration of more than 6 h. About 50.5% of them required mechanical ventilation. The mortality rate was 33%. Conclusion: Females were younger than males who were admitted with shock. Almost 40% had some comorbidity, which might have contributed to the shock. Sepsis was the most common cause of shock, followed by hypovolemia. The death rate due to shock in this setting was 33%.