Characteristics and outcomes of paediatric intensive care unit admissions across Kuwait: multicentre national-level cohort study.
About 1 in 5 Kuwaiti paediatric intensive care unit admissions required intubation.
Characteristics and outcomes of paediatric intensive care unit admissions across Kuwait: multicentre national-level cohort study.
National paediatric intensive care registries are essential for benchmarking care, understanding population-level disease burden and identifying inter-site variation.
This study aims to describe national patterns of paediatric intensive care unit (paediatric intensive care unit) admissions, case mix, interventions, seasonality and outcomes across Kuwait.
This retrospective multicentre cohort study included all paediatric intensive care unit admissions across the governmental hospitals in Kuwait between 1 January 2023, and 30 June 2025.
Median age was 10.5 (IQR 2.4-57) months, with infants accounting for 44.4% of admissions.
The median paediatric intensive care unit length of stay was 3 (IQR 1-6) days.
Admission peaks occurred during late autumn and winter, with a 1-month shift in peak timing in 2024 compared with that in 2023.
The overall paediatric intensive care unit mortality rate was 2.6%, with centre-level mortality ranging from 0.9% to 5.6%.
This study represents the first national-level analysis of paediatric intensive care unit admissions across Kuwait.
Admissions were characterised by infant predominance, a high burden of respiratory illness, short lengths of stay and low overall mortality.
Marked inter-centre variability in respiratory support practices highlights opportunities for national standardisation, capacity planning and registry-driven quality improvement.