Oxygenation index predicts mortality in pediatric stem cell transplant recipients requiring mechanical ventilation.

The mortality in the ICU for pediatric HSCT recipients remains high. Early pulmonary complications continue to be an obstacle to the survival. We hypothesize OI is a predictor for mortality in critically ill pediatric HSCT recipients. Retrospective review of pediatric HSCT recipients between 2002 and 2010 who required intensive care during the same hospital admission as their transplant. Twenty-eight patients accounted for 31 ICU admissions. Twenty-six (84%) admissions required mechanical ventilation. Ten (38%) mechanically ventilated admissions were placed on HFOV. Mortality of those mechanically ventilated was 70%. An OI ≥ 20 at any point during ventilation was associated with 94% mortality, while an OI ≥ 25 had 100% mortality. There was a significant association between maximum OI at any point during mechanical ventilation and ICU mortality, with the odds of dying increasing by 13% for each unit increase of max OI (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.01-1.26, p = 0.03). An OI of 20 had a sensitivity of 0.89 and specificity of 0.83 for predicting mortality. OI has a strong association with ICU mortality among pediatric stem cell recipients.