Several clinical factors were seen to be associated with increased risk of unplanned pediatric intensive care unit admission after upper airway surgery including American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status > 2, chronic lung disease, prior neonatal intensive care unit admission, and longer operative duration. Controlling for these clinical factors, prior neonatal intensive care unit admission best predicted the need for unplanned pediatric intensive care unit admission. Recognition of these risk factors may help inform perioperative risk stratification and postoperative resource planning.
Stancliff et al. (Sat,) studied this question.