New Medical Device Acquisition During Pediatric Severe Sepsis Hospitalizations

Severe sepsis is a significant cause of healthcare utilization and morbidity among pediatric patients. However, little is known about how commonly survivors acquire new medical devices during pediatric severe sepsis hospitalization. We sought to determine the rate of new device acquisition (specifically, tracheostomy placement, gastrostomy tube placement, vascular access devices, ostomy procedures, and amputation) among children surviving hospitalizations with severe sepsis. For contextualization, we compare this to rates of new device acquisition among three comparison cohorts: 1) survivors of all-cause pediatric hospitalizations; 2) matched survivors of nonsepsis infection hospitalizations; and 3) matched survivors of all-cause nonsepsis hospitalization with similar organ dysfunction.