Profile and consequences of children requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation in three Brazilian pediatric intensive care units.

Objective: To describe the characteristics of children submitted to prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV), and evaluate their mortality, and associated factors as well as the potential impact at admissions to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study enrolling all children admitted to three Brazilian PICUs between January 2003 and December 2005 submitted to MV > or =21 days. The three selected PICUs were located in university-affiliated hospitals.