Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in critically ill children: clinical value of two lists of diagnostic criteria

Background Two sets of diagnostic criteria of paediatric multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) were published by Proulx in 1996 and by Goldstein in 2005. We hypothesized that this changes the epidemiology of MODS. Thus, we determined the epidemiology of MODS, according to these two sets of diagnostic criteria, we studied the intra- and inter-observer reproducibility of each set of diagnostic criteria, and we compared the association between cases of MODS at paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) entry, as diagnosed by each set of diagnostic criteria, and 90-day all-cause mortality.