THE OUTCOME OF PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE-CARE

Abstract

To the Editor: In 1987,1 the Journal published a detailed study by Pollack et al. of 2394 admissions to nine North American pediatric intensive care units. The paper concluded that differences in mortality rates among the units studied were explained by differences in the severity of illness, as measured by scores on the Physiologic Stability Index (PSI). However, the units appeared to have been selected in an arbitrary rather than a random fashion, and the analysis was based on a sample of only nine (the number of units), not 2394 (the number of patients), so it would have been difficult. © 1992, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.