Evaluation of disseminated intravascular coagulation scores in critically ill pediatric patients with septic shock

To evaluated the outcome predictability of DIC scores in critically ill children with septic shock.Pediatric patients with septic shock who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary care children's hospital between January 2013 and December 2017 were enrolled. We analyzed the association between DIC and clinical outcomes. DIC was diagnosed based on the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH), Japanese Association for Acute Medicine (JAAM), and modified JAAM DIC criteria.Among the 89 patients, DIC was diagnosed in 66.3%, 61.8%, and 41.6% of patients using the JAAM, modified JAAM, and ISTH DIC criteria, respectively. Overall 28-day mortality was 14.6%. DIC patients had worse outcomes, including a higher 28-day mortality and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS) than those without DIC. The DIC scores were well correlated with the MODS scores. The JAAM and modified JAAM DIC scores showed good outcome predictability (p < 0.05) with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.765 and 0.741, respectively.Critically ill children with septic shock frequently experience DIC. Patients with DIC had worse outcomes than those without DIC. JAAM and modified JAAM DIC scores could be promising outcome predictors in these patients.