Program seeks Council approval for renewal of the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN) Clinical Sites.
The CPCCRN was established in 2005 to conduct multicenter assessments of treatment strategies among critically ill children and to investigate the pathophysiological basis of these life-threatening disease processes. The Network has been successful in achieving it goals, however, there remains a dearth of evidence-based data to inform care of critically ill children, due in part to the fact that treatments for these children are often based on adult studies. This is an important public health concern in that many therapies found effective in critically ill adults have proven ineffective in children.
Given the relatively small and heterogeneous pool of critically ill pediatric patients, there is a need to conduct research that not only identifies effective therapies among critically ill children, but also discriminates among this population who is most likely to benefit from a particular treatment and under which conditions are the therapies most effective. Multicenter research is necessary to achieve this important aim. The CPCCRN is poised to do so through its established clinical site infrastructure and singular focus on this unique population.
In the last cycle of this initiative, seven sites were awarded. The Network was very productive during this cycle, publishing 57 papers in high impact journals and establishing a biorepository with robust phenotypic data. Notably, the Network pursued well-designed collaborative clinical trials and meaningful descriptive studies in pediatric critical care medicine that advanced our understanding of the pathophysiologic basis of critical illness with a goal toward improving care and outcomes among critically ill children.
The goal of this renewal is to continue to provide the scientific basis of pediatric critical care practice. Network will identify priorities based on such criteria as prevalence of condition, and impact and severity of the disease process for children particularly affected. Doing so would allow the Network to advance the field beyond negative trials and adult-based therapies to evidence-based medicine specific to select subsets of children and individuals.
This proposed concept aligns with the NICHD Vision areas of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease and the Conduct of Science.
The concept also aligns to the Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch priority to support research that specifically examines the ways in which treatments in the pediatric intensive care unit or emergency department for adults can be modified to address the unique needs of children in these care contexts.
Program Contact
Valerie Maholmes
Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch
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