Prospective validation of Sophia observation withdrawal symptoms: A paediatric delirium scale in critically ill children in Denmark.

BACKGROUND

Paediatric delirium (PD) is increasingly recognised as a common disorder in critically ill children with a reported prevalence ranging from 9% to 66%. We validated the PD component of the Sophia Observation withdrawal Symptoms-Paediatric Delirium (SOS-PD) scale in a Danish setting to provide increased awareness and reliable identification of this critical condition, thereby paving the way for improved pathways to targeted delirium care.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this study were to criterion validate the PD component of the SOS-PD screening tool by comparing blinded psychiatric and nurse assessments and to estimate the prevalence of delirium in critically ill children in a Danish context.

METHODS

A prospective observational study was performed on critically ill children aged between 3 m and 18 y, admitted to an intensive care unit, with a hospital stay of 48 h or more. Assessments took place on a fixed weekday over an 18-month period. To test accuracy and criterion validity, bedside nurses' SOS-PD assessments were compared to the reference standard, a diagnostic assessment performed by a child psychiatrist according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-V criteria by use of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Delirium in Infants and Children.

RESULTS

We included 141 children in the study, 30 (21%) of whom were diagnosed with delirium by the child psychiatrist. The accuracy of the delirium diagnosis was 93.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 88.3-97.1) among the nurses' SOS-PD assessments compared to the reference standard. The SOS-PD demonstrated a high sensitivity of 83.3% (95% CI: 65.3-94.4) and a high specificity of 96.4% (95% CI: 91.0-99.0) with five false-negative and four false-positive cases.

CONCLUSION

The PD component of the SOS-PD tool has good accuracy and validity for assessments performed by nurses compared to a child psychiatrist's diagnosis in critically ill children in a Danish setting. We recommend the use of the SOS-PD instrument in clinical practice.