Concurrent activation of multiple programmed cell death pathways predicts 28-day mortality in pediatric sepsis: a retrospective PICU cohort study with differential sedative agent use between survivors and non-survivors

Objective

To systematically characterize the expression profiles of biomarkers associated with multiple programmed cell death (PCD) pathways-including apoptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and ferroptosis-in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients with sepsis, elucidate their associations with organ dysfunction severity and clinical prognosis, and identify independent predictors of 28-day all-cause mortality in children.