Exercise in critically ill children

BACKGROUND: Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest under-five mortality rate globally. Child healthcare decisions should be based on rigorously developed evidence-informed guidelines. The Global Evidence, Local Adaptation (GELA) project is enhancing capacity to use global research to develop locally relevant guidelines for newborn and child health in South Africa (SA), Malawi, and Nigeria. The first step in this process was to identify national priorities for newborn and child health guideline development, and this paper describes our approach...

In recent years, there has been an increase in the prevalence of the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a cognitive and behavioral disorder in which individuals present with inattention and impulsivity, in the pediatric population. With an increase in diagnoses, there is also increasing concern regarding overdiagnosis and overtreatment with medications for ADHD. The objective of this study was to map out and compile the recent literature pertaining to alternative therapies (e.g., physical activity, diet, mindfulness, and computer-based interventions) for children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD in an attempt to reduce or replace the use of pharmacological therapy...

AbstractThere is a critical need to establish a space to engage in careful deliberation amid exciting, important, necessary, and groundbreaking technological and clinical advances in pediatric medicine. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is one such technology that began in pediatric settings nearly 50 years ago. And while not void of medical and ethical examination, both the symbolic progression of medicine that ECMO embodies and its multidimensional challenges to patient care require more than an intellectual exercise...

BACKGROUND: Childcare center providers in Miami-Dade County, Florida a COVID-19 hotspot, are made up almost entirely of ethnic minority women. This is a critical frontline staff that is now encountering the triple threat of respiratory illnesses from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza viruses (or the seasonal flu), and COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: To examine sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometrics, and health behaviors that were collected from a sample of CCC teachers in Miami Dade County, a COVID-19 hotspot...

Rehabilitation robots have shown promise in improving the gait of children with childhood-onset motor disabilities. This study aimed to investigate the long-term benefits of training using a wearable Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) in these patients. Training using a HAL was performed for 20 min a day, two to four times a week, over four weeks (12 sessions in total). The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) was the primary outcome measure, and the secondary outcome measures were gait speed, step length, cadence, 6-min walking distance (6MD), Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM)...

Muscular dystrophies (MDs) are a category of hereditary illnesses characterized by the gradual malfunction and/or weakening of the skeletal muscles. This disease of the muscles also results in hypotonia and joint contracture, along with raised serum creatine kinase (CK) levels. To prevent complications, continuous physiotherapy is advised for children with muscular dystrophy, which is even asked to perform at home as a home exercise program (HEP). As a result, the home exercise program (HEP) is critical in maintaining the optimal health of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)...

Hyperthermia is an internal body temperature increase above 40.5 °C; normally internal body temperature is kept constant through natural homeostatic mechanisms. Heat-related illnesses occur due to exposure to high environmental temperatures in conditions in which an organism is unable to maintain adequate homeostasis. This can happen, for example, when the organism is unable to dissipate heat adequately. Heat dissipation occurs through evaporation, conduction, convection, and radiation. Heat disease exhibits a continuum of signs and symptoms ranging from minor to major clinical pictures...

BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE: Advances in pediatric intensive care have led to markedly improved survival rates in critically ill children. Approximately 70% of those children survive with varying forms of complex chronic diseases or impairment/disabilities. Length of stay, length of mechanical ventilation and number of interventions per patient are increasing with rising complexity of underlying diseases, leading to increasing pain, agitation, withdrawal symptoms, delirium, immobility, and sleep disruption...

The culture of sedation and immobilization in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is associated with PICU-acquired weakness, delirium, and poor functional, neurocognitive and psychosocial outcomes. A structured approach to introducing physical activity, as early as possible after PICU admission, may prevent these complications and optimize the holistic outcomes of critically ill children. Changing culture and introducing new clinical practice in PICU is complex, but can be approached systematically, using a "nuts and bolts" approach targeting the basic, practical considerations and essential required elements or components...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate which individual elements of health-related quality of life contribute most to decline in overall health-related quality of life status following pediatric critical care. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Seattle Children's Hospital. PATIENTS: ICU patients age 1 month to 18 years admitted between December 2011 and February 2017. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We assessed health-related quality of life decline from baseline to postdischarge (median, 6 wk) and determined the individual items of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Infant Scales (< 2 yr) and Generic Core Scales (2-18 yr) with the highest prevalence of decline...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate current international practice in PICUs regarding components of the "Assessing Pain, Both Spontaneous Awakening and Breathing Trials, Choice of Sedation, Delirium Monitoring/Management, Early Exercise/Mobility, and Family Engagement/Empowerment" (ABCDEF) bundle. DESIGN: Online surveys conducted between 2017 and 2019. SETTING: One-hundred sixty-one PICUs across the United States (n = 82), Canada (n = 14), Brazil (n = 27), and Europe (n = 38) participating in the Prevalence of Acute Rehabilitation for Kids in the PICU study...

BACKGROUND: All countries are facing decisions about which population groups to prioritize for access to COVID-19 vaccination after the first vaccine products have been licensed, at which time supply shortages are inevitable. Our objective is to define the key target populations, their size, and priority for a COVID-19 vaccination program in the context of China. METHODS: On the basis of utilitarian and egalitarian principles, we define and estimate the size of tiered target population groups for a phased introduction of COVID-19 vaccination, considering evolving goals as vaccine supplies increase, detailed information on the risk of illness and transmission, and past experience with vaccination during the 2009 influenza pandemic...

OBJECTIVES: The Paediatric Intensive Care Society Study Group conducted a research prioritization exercise with the aim to identify and agree research priorities in Pediatric Critical Care in the United Kingdom both from a healthcare professional and parent/caregiver perspective. DESIGN: A modified three-round e-Delphi survey, followed by a survey of parents of the top 20 healthcare professional priorities. SETTING: U.K. PICUs. PATIENTS: U...

INTRODUCTION: Intensive care units focus primarily on life support and treatment of critically ill patients, but there are many survivors with complications, such as generalized muscle disorders, functional disability and reduced quality of life after hospital discharge, resulting from prolonged stays in these units. The current evidence suggests that early mobilization-based rehabilitation (exercise initiated immediately after the patient's significant physiological changes have stabilized) in critically ill adults can alleviate these complications from immobility and critical illness...

OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has required that hospitals rapidly adapt workflows and processes to limit disease spread and optimize the care of critically ill children. DESIGN AND SETTING: As part of our institution's coronavirus disease 2019 critical care workflow design process, we developed and conducted a number of simulation exercises, increasing in complexity, progressing to intubation wearing personal protective equipment, and culminating in activation of our difficult airway team for an airway emergency...

PURPOSE: To describe and evaluate physical rehabilitation research in critically ill children, including physical rehabilitation intervention reporting. METHODS: We searched five electronic databases to 31 December 2018 for prospective physical rehabilitation studies conducted in pediatric intensive care units (PICU). Screening was conducted independently in duplicate. Study characteristics, outcomes, and interventions were extracted from included studies. Quality of study reporting was assessed using standardized tools...

OBJECTIVE: To compare nurse preparedness and quality of patient handoff during interfacility transfers from a pretransfer emergency department to a PICU when conducted over telemedicine versus telephone. DESIGN: Cross-sectional nurse survey linked with patient electronic medical record data using multivariable, multilevel analysis. SETTING: Tertiary PICU within an academic children's hospital. PARTICIPANTS: PICU nurses who received a patient handoff between October 2017 and July 2018...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The metabolic stress response of a critically ill child evolves over time and thus it seems reasonable that nutritional requirements change during their course of illness as well. This review proposes strategies and considerations for nutritional support during the recovery phase to gain optimal (catch-up) growth with preservation of lean body mass. RECENT FINDINGS: Critical illness impairs nutritional status, muscle mass and function, and neurocognition, but early and high intakes of artificial nutrition during the acute phase cannot resolve this...

Over the past decade, evidence has emerged that children growing up after neonatal critical illness, irrespective of underlying diagnosis, are at risk of memory impairment and academic problems. These difficulties are manifest even when intelligence is within the normal range. In this Review, we propose a common neurodevelopmental pathway following neonatal critical illness by showing that survivors of preterm birth, congenital heart disease, and severe respiratory failure share an increased risk of long-term memory deficits and associated hippocampal alterations...

OBJECTIVES: To understand patient, family caregiver, and clinician impressions of early mobilization, the perceived barriers and facilitators to its implementation, and the use of in-bed cycling as a method of mobilization. DESIGN: A qualitative study, conducted as part of the Early Exercise in Critically ill Youth and Children, a preliminary Evaluation (wEECYCLE) Pilot randomized controlled trial. SETTING: McMaster Children's Hospital PICU, Hamilton, ON, Canada...