UK PICU gender mortality
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation of gender mortality differences in children admitted to UK Paediatric Intensive Care Units
IRAS ID
214031
Contact name
Bianca De Stavola
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The overall aim is to explain the higher mortality rate for girls compared to boys admitted to Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) in the UK.
Previous small studies have shown that baby girls may have higher mortality than baby boys in PICU. In 2017 we completed an analysis of all babies (0-12 months) admitted to PICUs over an 11-year period. We compared the rates of death between girls and boys during their admission to PICU. We discovered that girls had higher death rates than boys. This is different to what is seen in the general population where boys have higher death rates than girls. We examined whether this difference could be due to a number of factors, but none could explain why girls died more than boys in PICU. We now want to examine these findings in greater detail.
We would like to understand why more boys are admitted to PICU, yet more girls die in PICU.
Methods
We will use national PICANet data for all ages of children admitted to PICU.
These data are routinely collected in every PICU, they will be anonymised, and we will seek permission to use them. Next, we will link data from PICANet to routinely collected maternity data. We will consider factors such as age and ethnicity, and whether maternal characteristics such as mother's age can explain any differences. We will then link these data to death records for those who are discharged alive from PICU to see if the difference in death rates between girls and boys persists after they leave PICU.If we can find a plausible explanation for girls having higher death rates than boys, then we may be able to identify possible strategies to reduce such differences in future. Any findings will be carefully considered by specialist commissioners and professionals through the Paediatric Intensive Care Society.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1396
Date of REC Opinion
19 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion