School Performance After Pediatric Intensive Care—Association of Mental Well-Being, Chronic Illnesses, and Family Socioeconomic Status

Objectives: To describe school performance in pediatric intensive care survivors, as well as the influence of chronic diseases, psychological well-being, and family socioeconomic status on poor school performance. Design: Register-based observational descriptive follow-up study. Setting: A multicenter national study. Patients: All pediatric patients who were admitted to an ICU in Finland in 2009–2010. Children and adolescents of or beyond school age. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Questionnaires regarding the child’s coping in school classes, chronic illnesses, as well as family socioeconomic factors were sent to every child alive 6 years after discharge from intensive care in Finland. Mental well-being was measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. There were 1,109 responders in an ICU group of 3,674 children. Seven-hundred fifty-three of the respondents were of school age or older. Of these, 13% (101/753) demonstrated poor school performance. Children with difficulties in school more often had a need for regular medication (71.3% vs 32.4%; p
Source: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine - Category: Pediatrics Tags: Online Clinical Investigations Source Type: research