"Defining Pediatric Sepsis: International Consensus Criteria"

A new set of criteria for pediatric sepsis and septic shock has been developed by an international task force, identifying sepsis in children as at least 2 points in the Phoenix Sepsis Score, indicating potentially life-threatening dysfunction of the respiratory, cardiovascular, coagulation, and/or neurological systems, and septic shock as sepsis with at least 1 cardiovascular point in the Phoenix Sepsis Score. These criteria were derived and validated using a large international database and survey, and have the potential to improve clinical care, epidemiological assessment, and research in pediatric sepsis and septic shock globally.