Feyza İnceköy Girgin, Betül Ayaz Seçil, Ayten Saracoglu, Nilüfer Yalındağ Öztürk
Southern Clinics of Istanbul Eurasia - 2025;36(3):247-252
Objective: This study aims to analyze the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with prolonged pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) stay, focusing on medical and social factors that prolong stay. Methods: To assess factors that prolong hospitalization, we reviewed medical records of patients hospitalized for at least 30 days in the PICU between January 1, 2017, and May 1, 2025. Results: A total of 328 patients with prolonged PICU stay were identified. The mean age was 4.3 years (range, 1 months to 17.8 years), and the mean length of PICU stay was 92 days (range 30-920 days). The most common condition at admission was respiratory failure (68.9%). The vast majority of patients (71.6%) had underlying chronic conditions, the most common being central nervous system diseases (30.2%) followed by chronic respiratory diseases (23%). Two hundred fourteen patients (65.2%) required tracheostomy, 72 (22%) gastrostomy, and 328 (100%) mechanical ventilation. Mortality occurred in 34 patients (14.8%), with 21 cardiac (13.4%) and 13 (1.4%) brain deaths. In patients requiring tracheostomy, the PICU stay was considerably prolonged due to causes other than the clinical condition of the patient. Conclusion: Patients admitted for social reasons had longer lengths of stay, with higher rates of tracheostomy, chronic ventilation support and underlying chronic diseases. Social reason-based admissions were increased after the pandemic. Developing different solutions for this group, which significantly uses intensive care resources, will help alleviate the burden on PICU's.
