Ethnicity
Several other studies also explored the association between ethnicity
and PICU outcomes. Firstly, one article included children with a status
asthmaticus admitted to the PICU, where a distinction was made between
children with or without respiratory failure35. They
found that African American children were significantly more likely to
be intubated compared to the children of other races and ethnicities. No
associations were found between respiratory failure and sex, age, or
obesity35. Hardelid et al. included children with an
influenza infection in England and showed a higher mortality rate in
children from Asian, Asian-British and other non-majority ethnic groups
compared to white British children36. Additionally,
O’Donnell et al. showed that respiratory failure and overall mortality
due to respiratory failure at the PICU was significantly higher in South
Asian infants compared to other ethnicities28. On the
other hand, one study which also included children with asthma admitted
to the PICU described that African Americans had a higher than expected
rate for admissions, however no racial or ethnic disparities in the
outcomes, which included mechanical ventilation, were
found37. Finally, Epstein et al. explored whether
being a minority in a big city, in this case being Latino, had an effect
on the severity of respiratory diseases at the PICU16.
They found that having a Latino ethnicity and living in a neighborhood
with predominantly other Latinos were both associated with a higher
initial severity of illness at the PICU but did not have an effect on
the mortality rates16.