Grant: Project Grant

Approximately 20,000 children per year present to emergency departments, pediatric wards and intensive care units in North America with a severe infections that lead to shock (low blood pressure and poor function of the organs). This severe type of shock can lead to many complications and even death. Septic shock (as this form of shock is referred to) is treated with fluids and antibiotics but sometimes this is not enough. Many doctors believe that giving such patients steroids may improve their outcomes but the effectiveness and safety of such steroid treatment in pediatric septic shock has not been clearly proven.