Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Neonatal serious illness: operational definition
  1. Katherine Guttmann,
  2. Rachel Silverman and
  3. Andrea S Weintraub
  1. Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Katherine Guttmann, Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA; katherine.guttmann{at}mssm.edu

Abstract

Objectives (1) To operationalise our previously published definition of neonatal serious illness by applying it to a patient cohort and (2) to evaluate timing of palliative care consultation, goals of care discussions and meeting serious illness criteria.

Methods This was a retrospective chart review. Inborn neonates delivered between January 2006 and December 2020 who died prior to neonatal intensive care unit discharge were identified through EPIC query. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney-U tests were used to compare time intervals relating to transition to serious illness across causes of death and other factors. χ2 tests were used to examine frequency of goals of care conversations by factors.

Results Eighty-eight per cent of patients met criteria for neonatal serious illness within 48 hours of life. There were no significant differences in transition to serious illness between preterm and term infants. Time to identification of serious illness varied significantly by cause of death. Palliative care was consulted for 5.7% of patients.

Conclusion All patients met criteria for serious illness early in life based on our definition. This definition may be useful for identifying neonates with serious illness in time to provide support. Additional work is needed to apply this definition prospectively to explore its utility for clinical care and research.

  • End of life care
  • Hospital care
  • Paediatrics
  • Prognosis

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • X @GuttmannKaty

  • Contributors KG conceived of the study, acquired and interpreted data, drafted portions of the original manuscript along with ASW, and approved the final version of the manuscript. ASW conceived of the study, acquired and interpreted data, drafted portions of the original manuscript along with KG, and approved the final version of the manuscript. RS made substantial contributions to the conception of this work, critically revised the manuscript, and approved the final version of the manuscript. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of this work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.