{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T18:35:33Z","timestamp":1790620533096,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Mol Cell Pediatr"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Severe complications of common community-acquired infections can necessitate pediatric intensive care even in previously healthy children. While survival after pediatric intensive care has improved, data on long-term physical, cognitive, and psychosocial outcomes in this population remain limited. This study evaluated 12-month outcomes in previously healthy children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit for severe infectious complications and describes the implementation of a structured post-intensive care follow-up program at a tertiary care center in Germany.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We conducted a retrospective single-center study including previously healthy children admitted to the PICU in 2023 due to severe complications of community-acquired infections. Patients participated in a structured multidisciplinary follow-up program with standardized neurological, physical, cognitive, and psychosocial assessments performed up to 12 months after discharge.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Thirty-seven previously healthy children admitted in 2023 were included. The largest subgroup of the study population consisted of children with intracranial abscess or meningitis (43%), orbital abscess (27%), septic shock (14%), osteomyelitis (11%), and necrotizing fasciitis (5%). Despite appropriate acute management and survival of all patients, 25 children (68%) developed persistent neurological, somatic, or psychosocial impairments during follow-up. Common sequelae included motor deficits, neurocognitive dysfunction, sensory impairment, anxiety, and reduced physical endurance. Importantly, many complications were not apparent early after discharge and emerged several months later, with a median time to identification of approximately five months. Recovery trajectories varied considerably, reflecting the multidimensional nature of pediatric post\u2013intensive care morbidity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A substantial proportion of previously healthy children experience clinically relevant, multidimensional morbidity after severe infections requiring intensive care. These findings highlight the importance of structured, multidisciplinary post-intensive care follow-up to enable early recognition of delayed sequelae and timely intervention, with the potential to reduce long-term morbidity and improve quality of life for affected children and their families.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s40348-026-00245-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T05:59:53Z","timestamp":1780293593000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Post\u2013intensive care sequelae after severe bacterial infections in previously healthy children"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"S. 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The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Duisburg-Essen (approval number 25-12803-BO). Due to the retrospective design of the study and the use of anonymized data, the requirement for informed consent was waived by the ethics committee. The study is registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) under the identifier DRKS00038522.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable. No individual patient data or identifiable information are included in this manuscript.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"33"}}