Pediatric anesthesia & critical care
Latent Classes in Long-Term Functional Status in Children With Recurrent Critical Illness
Authors' conclusion
In this multi-institutional database study using FSS scores to describe a contemporary, heterogeneous patient population with recurrent PICU-based observations of functional status, we identified six classes of outcome trajectories with different clinical and demographic characteristics.
Study context
- Population
- Children <21 years with >1 PICU encounter, 24 US PICUs (Virtual Pediatric Systems database), index discharge April 2017–December 2020, followed through December 2022
- Participants
- 6,038 children · 24 PICUs
- Exposure
- Stable good vs Stable moderate dysfunction vs Stable severe dysfunction vs Good/mild dysfunction with significant decline vs Good/mild dysfunction with moderate decline vs Mild dysfunction with improvement
- Outcome
- Trajectories of functional status (Functional Status Scale, Functional Status Scale (FSS)) across repeated PICU admissions
Methodological detailsmulticentre, latent trajectory analysis
- Multicentre
- Latent trajectory analysis
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Latent trajectory classes of FSS (linear trajectory model)
- Six latent classes identified
- 6
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Characteristics of trajectory classes
- Classes differed by age, race and ethnicity, diagnosis category, procedural exposure, severity of illness and index admission LOS (univariable analysis)
- Associations also present with multinomial regression and random forest classification
Original publication
Latent Classes in Long-Term Functional Status in Children With Recurrent Critical Illness. Crit Care Med. Published 12 November 2025. doi:10.
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