Sepsis remains a leading cause of mortality in the pediatric population, and we have long been overdue for an update in recognizing and risk stratifying our pediatric patients.
Until now, pediatric sepsis screening guidelines have followed a framework modeled after the adult screening criteria from 2001 (Sepsis-2): Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS). While attempts were made in 2005 to adjust these criteria to the pediatric population, data has shown poor specificity correlating to PICU admissions, need for critical interventions, end organ damage, and mortality.
As a reminder: Pediatric SIRS criteria: Temp >38.5 C or <36 C, tachycardia (or bradycardia if <1yr old), Tachypnea, leukocytosis/ leukopenia or >10% bandemia
In 2016, Sepsis-3 revised the criteria for sepsis and septic shock for the adult cohort by placing the focus on the presence of life-threatening organ dysfunction, which led to adopting criteria such as the SOFA and qSOFA scores to predict mortality risk.
Enter: The Phoenix Sepsis Score
An international, multidisciplinary task force convened by the Society of Critical Care Medicine in 2019 used evidence from an international survey, systematic review and meta-analysis to develop and validate a scoring tool intended to identify life-threatening organ dysfunction in children. Scoring tool was derived and validated retrospectively using an international, multi-center electronic medical record review of 3 million pediatric hospital encounters (excluding pre-term infants born <37 weeks and birth hospitalizations).
A Phoenix score of at least 2 carried a 7.1% risk of in-hospital mortality (in higher resource settings such as the USA).
Children with sepsis and organ dysfunction remote from the primary site of infection (eg respiratory failure in a child with meningitis) carried the highest mortality burden (8%) in this study.
Sepsis is identified in children with suspected infection and an overall Phoenix score of 2 or more points, as this indicates potentially life-threatening organ dysfunction and thus carries higher mortality risk. Septic shock is identified by a score of 1 or more point(s) in cardiovascular dysfunction.
Lastly, it is important to recognize that this scoring criteria is NOT a sepsis screening tool, but rather should be applied when there is clinical suspicion for significant infection in the unwell child, or meeting sepsis screening criteria per your institutional criteria. Screening pediatric patients remains a clinical challenge, and there is not yet a reliable tool to apply to this population.
Bottom Line: Sepsis remains a significant cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality. The Phoenix Sepsis Score should be applied to the unwell child with suspected infection to identify sepsis and septic shock, thereby providing risk stratification and improving clinical care. Sepsis is defined by a Phoenix score of 2 or more and septic shock by a score of 1 or more in the cardiovascular category.
Schlapbach LJ, Watson RS, Sorce LR, et al. International Consensus Criteria for Pediatric Sepsis and Septic Shock. JAMA. 2024;331(8):665–674. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.0179
