Fluid Overload in the PICU—Can It Be Avoided?

Investigators from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, GA, conducted a retrospective study to assess the association of fluid overload with adverse outcomes in critically ill children. Study participants were patients 1 month to 17 years old admitted to 1 of 3 pediatric ICUs (PICUs) in the province of Alberta, Canada, in 2015. Data on these children were abstracted from “eCritical Alberta,” a bedside clinical information system used by the PICUs, and included age, weight, diagnoses, surgeries, laboratory data, use of mechanical ventilation, hourly fluid intake and output from all sources, and disposition (discharge from PICU or death). Severity of illness at PICU admission was classified using the pediatric index of mortality 3 (PIM3) score calculated for each …