Risk factors for nosocomial infections in a critically ill pediatric population: A 25-month prospective cohort study

We studied risk factors for nosocomial infections among 500 critically ill children who were admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit from August 1 994 through August 1996 and who were prospectively followed until death, tr ansfer, or discharge. Age, gender, postoperative state, length of stay, dev ice-utilization ratio, pediatric risk of mortality score, and total parente ral nutrition were the risk factors studied. Through multivariate analysis, we identified three independent risk factors for nosocomial infection: dev ice-utilization ratio (odds ratio [OR], 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI95] , 1.10-2.34), total parenteral nutrition (OR, 2.5; CI95, 1.05- 5.81) and le ngth of stay (OR, 1.7; CI95 1.31-2.21).