Cardiac Dysfunction on Point-of-Care Ultrasound Is Associated With Subsequent Use of Vasoactive Medication…

Cohort studyPediatric emergency care· Jul 2026

Cardiac Dysfunction on Point-of-Care Ultrasound Is Associated With Subsequent Use of Vasoactive Medication in Children With Suspected Systemic Infection.

Robert M Hoffmann, Nathan Georgette, Matthew A Eisenberg … Andrew F Miller

Pediatric Emergency MedicineCohort studyQ2IF 1.0

Reduced ventricular function on point-of-care ultrasound linked to later vasoactive medication use

Cardiac Dysfunction on Point-of-Care Ultrasound Is Associated With Subsequent Use of Vasoactive Medication in Children With Suspected Systemic Infection.

Robert M Hoffmann … Andrew F Miller

Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2026 · Q2 in Emergency Medicine

Purpose

To evaluate whether reduced ventricular function identified by cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (point-of-care ultrasound) in children with suspected systemic infection is associated with subsequent use of IV vasoactive medications.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients aged 1 month to 21 years presenting to a tertiary pediatric emergency department (emergency department) between 2015 and 2024.

Results

reduced function raised the odds of needing vasoactive support

AOR 7.90 (95% CI 2.70 to 23)

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

Of 329 included patients, 27 (8.2%) had reduced cardiac function on point-of-care ultrasound, and 55 (16.7%) subsequently received an IV vasoactive.

Interrater agreement between bedside and expert interpretation was excellent (κ=0.90).

Associations remained consistent in secondary analyses using expert interpretations.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Cardiac point-of-care ultrasound findings of reduced ventricular function were strongly associated with subsequent IV vasoactive therapy and worse clinical outcomes.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

These findings suggest that reduced cardiac function identified on cardiac point-of-care ultrasound is associated with greater illness severity and may support early risk stratification.

Cardiac Dysfunction on Point-of-Care Ultrasound Is Associated With Subsequent Use of Vasoactive Medication in Children With Suspected Systemic Infection.

Cardiac Dysfunction on Point-of-Care Ultrasound Is Associated With Subsequent Use of Vasoactive Medication in Children With Suspected Systemic Infection.

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