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.