Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the PIA website. Below you will find information about our project. If you are interested in participating, please contact us.
The study protocol can be found here .
For questions about PIA and the objectives of the project:
Sarah Lampe
University Hospital Dresden, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine I
Email: Sarah.Lampe@ukdd.de
Markos Tomidis
University Hospital Dresden, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine I
Email: Markos.Tomidis@ukdd.de
For questions about methods:
Michael S. Urschitz, M.D., EU-M.Sc.
University Medical Centre of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics
Email: Urschitz@uni-mainz.de
For questions about the data infrastructure:
Thomas Ziegler
University Medical Centre of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics
Email: thomas.ziegler@uni-mainz.de
Project Summary
Background: Currently, neither the conditions leading to admission to paediatric intensive care units nor treatment outcomes are systematically recorded in Germany. However, both are essential for establishing a research infrastructure, supporting quality assurance in paediatric intensive care medicine, and monitoring the burden of disease among children through disease surveillance.
Objectives: The objectives of this project are to develop the concept for, establish, and assess the feasibility and roll-out of a new surveillance unit and register for paediatric intensive care admissions (PIA) in Germany. PIA is intended to facilitate descriptive epidemiological analyses in the context of pandemic preparedness, to generate and investigate research questions, to measure quality of care, and to evaluate quality improvement measures.
Setting: All paediatric intensive care units in Germany are eligible to participate. The initial concept development and feasibility assessment were conducted at a limited number of sites through June 2023. The nation-wide roll-out started in July 2023.
Patients: The surveillance system captures all infants, children, and adolescents older than 28 days of life, who are treated in a paediatric intensive care unit for more than 48 hours or who died during the stay, according to the case definitions. Children older than 28 days, who do not meet the case definitions are recorded using a short questionnaire to determine the proportion of less severe cases.
Methods: Data collection is based on the surveillance framework of the German Paediatric Surveillance Unit, operated at University Medical Centre Mainz. Cases are reported in a de-identified (i.e., anonymized) form by a designated PIA representative at each participating paediatric intensive care unit. The case reports include basic demographic and medical information on diagnostic procedures, treatment, and outcomes („enhanced surveillance“). The reporting system is designed to ensure that patients cannot be re-identified by individuals outside the reporting hospital. The collected data remain within the surveillance unit at University Medical Centre Mainz and are not shared with third parties.
Governance: The project is supported by the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI e.V.) and the German Society for Neonatology and Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine (GNPI e.V.) The project is guided by a Steering Committee and an Advisory Board.
Expected Results and Outlook: We experienced a high level of participation among paediatric intensive care units and acceptance of enhanced case reporting. Feasibility and performance of the surveillance unit was rated positively. During the subsequent nation-wide roll-out, the project will assess the extent to which the established infrastructure can support research, prevention, quality of care, and health care planning through quality assurance and disease surveillance, ultimately benefiting future patients.