# Development of a Mobile Health Personalized Physiologic Analytics Tool for Pediatric Patients with Sepsis

> **NIH NIH R21** · RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL · 2022 · $122,995

## Abstract

Project Summary
Sepsis, defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection,
encompasses a continuum that ranges from sepsis to severe sepsis, septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction
syndrome (MODS) and eventually death if untreated. Sepsis is the leading cause of child mortality worldwide,
with most of these deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Climatic changes are closely
linked to infectious diseases, which lead to sepsis in a subset of patients; for instance, rising temperatures,
increased flooding, and droughts, and changing habitats may tip the ecological balance, encouraging infectious
disease transmission and triggering outbreaks, such as enteric infections and diarrhea and respiratory
diseases. Those living in the world’s poorest communities, particularly children and the elderly, are likely to
suffer the most from escalations in climate-susceptible infectious diseases. However, despite both the greater
vulnerability to climate change and the higher rates of child mortality from sepsis in these settings, there is a
paucity of literature on the effects of climate change on sepsis and sepsis outcomes in LMICs. In particular,
Bangladesh has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change threats.
The proposed research will build additional aims related to climate change and health onto the parent R21/R33
study, “Development of a Mobile Health Personalized Physiologic Analytics Tool for Pediatric Patients with
Sepsis” (R21 TW012211). We will evaluate the impact of climate trends on pediatric sepsis incidence, severity
and mortality rate using data collected from the parent study of pediatric patients with sepsis admitted to the
intensive care unit the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) Dhaka
Hospital, as well as electronic health record (EHR) data from all pediatric patients diagnosed with sepsis at the
icddr,b Dhaka Hospital. Knowledge gained from this study will greatly advance the evidence base for the
impact of climate and changing climate trends on critically ill children with sepsis in Bangladesh which may be
applicable to other similar LMIC settings. This work also has the potential to improve the clinical prediction
models for sepsis severity and risk of death that we are creating, and thereby inform clinicians of the impacts of
climate on individual patient care. The proposed initiatives will also build a base of technical and professional
expertise at Rhode Island Hospital and icddr,b in climate change and health research which will allow future
research and collaborations to study the impacts of climate change on sepsis and infectious diseases.
Increased research on the intersection of climate and sepsis, particularly in children, may allow researchers,
clinicians and policy makers to best plan how to strengthen healthcare systems, better allocate scarce human
and material resources,...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10671864
- **Project number:** 3R21TW012211-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Adam Carl Levine
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $122,995
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-08-10 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10671864

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10671864, Development of a Mobile Health Personalized Physiologic Analytics Tool for Pediatric Patients with Sepsis (3R21TW012211-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10671864. Licensed CC0.

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