The Challenges of Identifying an Oxygenation Index Threshold for Increased Mortality in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Failure.

The article reports on a study that examines the link between mortality and maximum oxygenation index (OI) during mechanical ventilation among subjects who were mechanically ventilated for less than a day. Highlights include reasons for the poor predictive ability of OI for mortality among children with pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a patient's trajectory early in the course of illness, confounders of the relationship between OI and mortality among children with ARDS.