Characteristics and predictors of intensive care unit admission in pediatric blunt abdominal trauma

Multicenter prospective study of 2,182 children with blunt abdominal trauma identified key predictors of ICU admission: severe solid organ injury, traumatic brain injury (GCS <8), multisystem trauma (ISS >15), anemia, cervical spine injury, and skull fracture. The predictive model achieved 0.91 AUC, potentially informing trauma bay triage decisions and ICU resource allocation.