BACKGROUND: Intensive care has become very important in the management of critically ill children who require advanced airway, respiratory, and hemodynamic supports and are usually admitted into the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with the aim of achieving an outcome better than if the patients were admitted into other parts of the hospital. It becomes important to audit admissions and their outcome, which may help to modify practices if necessary following thorough introspection, leading to better patient outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the morbidity pattern and outcome of admissions into the PICU of a tertiary care center in India. METHODS: A retrospective study in which records of admissions (from August 2012 to June 2013) were obtained from the PICU records. Information retrieved included age, sex, diagnosis, duration of stay in the unit, and outcome. RESULTS: Mean age of the studied 341 patients was 40.01 ± 45.79 months; 50.7% were infants and 59.8% were males. The three most common disease categories admitted were cardiovascular disease (41.1%), neurological disorders (12.0%), and respiratory disease (10.0%). The mean duration of stay in PICU was 3.2 ± 4.5 days. The overall mortality rate was 2.1%. CONCLUSION: Mortality is low in our PICU. We conclude that a well-equipped intensive care unit with modern and innovative intensive care greatly facilitates the care of critically ill patients giving desirable outcome. An expansion of the pediatric wards is advocated to enhance cost-effective management of patients and avoid unnecessary stretch of the PICU facilities.

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The transmission of HIV via breastmilk has led to various recommendations for HIV-infected mothers. In this study, the feeding practices of HIV-infected mothers in the first six months of their infants' lives were evaluated. In total, 103 consecutive mothers of children, aged 6-24 months, were evaluated for their feeding practices in the first six months of their infants' lives. The mothers were recruited in two cohorts based on their entry (PMTCT cohort) or non-entry (non-PMTCT cohort) to an HIV MTCT-prevention programme. Information obtained included maternal age, socioeconomic class, and the educational level attained. All the babies in the non-PMTCT cohort were breastfed compared to none in the PMTCT cohort. Infant formula was inadequately prepared for 77.42% of babies in the non-PMTCT cohort compared to 18.64% in the PMTCT cohort. The mixed-feeding rate was high (70.45 %) in the non-PMTCT cohort. Over 70% of babies in both the cohorts were bottle-fed. Voluntary counselling and testing services in the healthcare system should be strengthened. All mothers should receive infant-feeding counselling, with exclusive breastfeeding being encouraged in those with unknown HIV status.

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