Risk Factors for Mortality in Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

Congenital heart defect commonly requires care in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).They are a heterogeneous group of disorders with an annual incidence of 25,757 new cases in Brazil, 12 cases per 1,000 inhabitants 1 .In this paper, Guimarães et al., 2 published a cross-sectional study to describe the epidemiology of patients admitted to PICU from a tertiary hospital in Brazil.In this editorial, we review recent progress in understanding the risk factors for mortality in PICU.The editorial was produced by searching Pubmed and Scielo, using the terms "PICU", "RACHS", "CHD", and "mortality".Congenital heart defects (CHD) are serious and common conditions that have a significant impact on morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs in both children and adults.3 It is estimated that at least 32,000 infants in the United States will be affected each year by CHD. 3 Of these, approximately 25%, or 2.4 per 1,000 live births require invasive treatment in the first year of life.While advances in treatment in the last decades have decreased infant mortality, they have also led to an increase in the number of children and adults with CHD. 4 Despite these advances and developments in interventional and surgical techniques, heart disease in children remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality.