What’s new in the long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of critically ill children

Excerpt

Thanks to major advances in intensive medical care, most critically ill children nowadays survive the life-threatening event requiring admission to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Mortality in modern PICUs is now below 5% [1]. Strikingly, however, the improved survival revealed new concerns. Indeed, it appeared that many children who survive critical illness are confronted with significant, long-lasting morbidity, comprising amongst others neurocognitive/psychological problems, which brings about an important burden for them, their families, caregivers and society [2‐6]. Moreover, more children suffer from prolonged critical illness and their long-term outcome is even worse than that of short-stay PICU patients [5, 7]. Consequently, research efforts are shifting from short-term vital outcomes to long-term morbidity and quality-of-life years after PICU discharge. We highlight several key insights in the field of long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of critically ill children gained in the last 5 years. …