Escala de Phoenix como predictor de gravedad y mortalidad en pacientes pediátricos con sospecha de sepsis en el área de emergencia del Hospital Roberto Gilbert, marzo 2024 a marzo 2025.

Abstract

Pediatric sepsis is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide, with a higher prevalence in low- and middle-income countries, where the early identification of patients at high risk of developing adverse outcomes remains a clinical challenge. This retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the ability of the Phoenix Sepsis Score to predict intensive care unit (ICU) admission and 28-day in-hospital mortality in pediatric patients with clinically suspected sepsis and a Phoenix score ≥2 who were treated in the emergency department of Hospital Roberto Gilbert Elizalde between March 2024 and March 2025. Patients aged between 1 month and 17 years and 11 months were included, in whom this tool was applied within the first 24 hours of admission to the emergency department. A total of 137 patients were included, with a median Phoenix score of 4 points. According to the Phoenix score, 68% of patients were classified as having sepsis, while the remaining 32% were classified as having septic shock. Overall, 69% of patients required admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), and 28-day in-hospital mortality was 14%. The Phoenix score showed adequate discriminative ability for both outcomes (AUC: 0.828 for ICU admission and 0.811 for mortality), and each one-point increase in the score was significantly associated with a greater likelihood of ICU admission (OR: 3.30; 95% CI: 2.14–5.61; p < 0.001) and mortality (OR: 2.00; 95% CI: 1.50–2.80; p < 0.001). It was concluded that the Phoenix Sepsis Score may be considered a useful tool for the early risk stratification of the risk of ICU admission and mortality, given its adequate predictive ability for adverse outcomes.