Predictive model for the risk of paediatric intensive care utilization in children with medical complexity: A longitudinal retrospective cohort study.

The study was retrospective and based on electronic records from one reference hospital in Spain, so it cannot show that any factor caused PICU admission. The prediction model was only at derivation stage, had 21.3% predictive capacity, and was not externally validated. Some children exceeded the under-18 inclusion age during follow-up and were kept because they continued paediatric or transitional care. The cohort included only children who already had complex chronic conditions at the start, not children who developed them during follow-up. Small numbers in some condition categories and unmeasured factors, such as differences in clinical practice and resource availability, may have affected results. The authors could not separate long-term outcomes caused by the underlying disease, acute illness or intensive care complications.

The supplied text reports no specific grant for the research. Open access charge funding was from Universidad de Málaga/CBUA.

Do not treat this as a validated prediction rule or assume the listed factors cause PICU admission. The model had only 21.3% predictive capacity, and the study was a retrospective cohort at one reference hospital without external validation.