# Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Pediatrics, Longitudinal Cohort study

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $715,526

## Abstract

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Project Summary
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) survival has increased substantially over the past three decades,
rendering mortality alone an insufficient metric for pediatric critical illness outcomes assessment. Currently,
a comprehensive understanding of PICU morbidity and the trajectory of recovery among PICU survivors and
their families is limited. Post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) consists of new or worsening impairments in
physical, cognitive, or mental health status that arise and may persist after critical illness. The
characteristics of PICS in children (PICS-p) are unknown. At this time, we cannot identify modifiable risk
factors for poor PICU outcomes and/or develop systematic, timely, and targeted PICU or post-PICU
interventions to improve PICU morbidity without first understanding the recovery in children who commonly
share the PICU experience.
Here, we propose a prospective longitudinal cohort study of patients undergoing >3 days of ICU therapies
(case) at one of 20 US PICUs to evaluate child and family outcomes over two years. We will compare
outcomes of these PICU patients with a control group of patients who received an overnight (control) PICU
stay who did not receive intensive care unit therapies as well as with published quality of life data from the
general and chronically ill populations. Children and their families will be enrolled locally from each PICU,
and their outcomes will be followed centrally from the University of Pennsylvania and Seattle Children’s
Research Institute. Our specific aims are (1) to determine the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social
health outcomes and trajectory of recovery in a population of children post-critical illness; (2) to determine
the baseline health, presenting problem, and PICU factors associated with impaired physical, cognitive,
emotional, and social outcomes among PICU survivors, and (3) to determine the emotional and social
health outcomes in parents and siblings of PICU survivors. Our primary goal is to explicate the impact of
pediatric critical illness over a two-year period of time to guide future intervention research to optimize child
and family outcomes. Our overall goal is to improve the health and well-being of PICU survivors and their
families.
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9885482
- **Project number:** 1R01HD098269-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Martha AQ Curley
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $715,526
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9885482

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9885482, Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Pediatrics, Longitudinal Cohort study (1R01HD098269-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9885482. Licensed CC0.

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