Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in children

Introduction: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in children has specific features that influence its diagnosis, management and prognosis. Objective: To describe the epidemiological, therapeutic and evolutionary characteristics of pediatric ARDS.Patients and methods:Descriptive study conducted in the pediatric intensive care unit over a 4-year period. The patients included were aged between 15 days and 16 years diagnosed with ARDS. Results: Twenty-one cases of pediatric ARDS were recorded. The mean age was 1.8 ± 3.8 years. Dyspnea was the main reason for admission in 95.2% of cases, with signs of polypnea (90.5%), cyanosis (14.3%) and signs of respiratory struggle (81%).ARDS was mild in 1 patient, moderate in 11 and severe in 9, with mean oxygenation and saturation indices of 20.4 and 14.9 respectively. The etiologies were: severe bronchiolitis in 12 patients.