Characteristics and Outcomes of Pediatric Septic Patients With Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Pediatric oncology patients may be at a higher risk of complications and mortality from sepsis compared with their nononcology counterpart. Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare characteristics, treatment, and sepsis-related mortality between oncology and nononcology patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). Methods: This is a retrospective single-center cohort study including patients <18 years old with a diagnosis of sepsis, severe sepsis, septic shock, or bacteremia presenting to an academic ED between January 2009 and January 2015. A total of 158 patients were included with 53.8% having an underlying malignancy. The primary outcome of the study was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included ED vital signs, resuscitation parameters, laboratory work, infection site, general practitioner unit, intensive care unit length of stay, and hospital length of stay. Results: Oncology patients had a higher in-hospital mortality (5.9% vs. 2.7%), however, it did not meet statistical significance (p = 0.45). On presentation, oncology patients had a lower respiratory rate (24.33 ± 9.48 vs. 27.45 ± 7.88; p = 0.04). There was a significant increase in the white blood count in oncology patients (4.011 ± 4.965 vs. 17.092 ± 12.806; p < 0.001) with this cohort receiving more intravenous fluids. In the first 6 hours (33.0 ± 27.7 mL/kg vs. 24.9 ± 16.1 mL/kg; p = 0.029) as well as having a higher percentage of vasopressor administration (15.3% vs. 1.4%; p = 0.002). Antibiotics were initiated at an earlier stage in the oncology cohort (1.25 ± 1.95 vs. 3.33 ± 1.97 hours; p < 0.0001). Cancer-free patients had a significantly higher rate of lung infections compared with cancer patients (68.5% vs. 32.9%; p < 0.0001). In terms of infection characteristics, cancer patients had a higher percentage of bacteremia (27.1% vs. 4.1%; p < 0.001). Conclusion: There was no statistical significance regarding mortality between the 2 cohorts. Pediatric cancer patients were found to have a higher incidence of bacteremia and received more aggressive treatment.