Phoenix Sepsis Score

The Phoenix sepsis score defines sepsis for children born full term (37 weeks gestational age or greater) who are hospitalized using lab and vital sign criteria based on the presence of end-organ dysfunction. Septic shock is defined as the presence of cardiovascular dysfunction in the context of sepsis. The Phoenix score is calculated by adding the highest subscores within a 24-hour period (the first 24 hours of hospitalization). In both derivation and validation testing, the Phoenix criteria outperformed the International Pediatric Sepsis Consensus Conference (IPSCC) criteria. The Phoenix criteria may be more physiologically accurate than SIRS given that many children may meet SIRS criteria (e.g. fever and tachycardia) without truly having sepsis due to viral infections, for example.