History in Critical Asthma Mortality and Morbidity Planning Study

History
Study Description
A retrospective study was conducted across the 8 children’s hospitals affiliated with the NICHD CPCCRN. All children between 1 and 18 years of age with critical asthma admitted to a PICU between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2009 who required intubation and mechanical ventilation or who died were included. Critical asthma is defined as an acute exacerbation of asthma or status asthmaticus as the primary cause for PICU admission. Patients with cystic fibrosis or bronchiolitis were excluded. If a patient was admitted to the hospital more than once during the study period, each hospitalization for critical asthma in which the patient was intubated and mechanically ventilated was included as a case. If a patient was admitted to the PICU more than once during the same hospitalization, only the first PICU admission in which the patient was intubated and mechanically ventilated was included. The study was approved and waiver of informed consent granted by the Institutional Review Board at each site. Those patients aged between 1 and 18 years with a primary admitting diagnosis of an acute exacerbation of asthma or status asthmaticus, who are deemed ill enough to require admission to the PICU.