INTRODUCTION: Mortality risk prediction scores are important for benchmarking 
quality of care in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs). We aimed to 
benchmark PICU outcomes at our hospital against the Pediatric Index of Mortality 
2 (PIM2) mortality risk prediction score, and evaluate differences in diagnosis 
on admission and outcomes between Malaysian and immigrant children.
METHODS: We prospectively collected demographic and clinical data on paediatric 
medical patients admitted to the PICU of Sabah Women's and Children's Hospital 
in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The PIM2 risk score for mortality was 
tabulated.
RESULTS: Of the 131 patients who met the inclusion criteria, data was available 
for 115 patients. The mean age of the patients was 2.6 ± 3.8 years, with 79% of 
the cohort aged less than five years. Patients were mainly of Kadazan (38%) and 
Bajau (30%) descent, and 26% of patients were non-citizens. Leading diagnoses on 
admission were respiratory (37%), neurological (18%) and infectious (17%) 
disorders. Out of the 29 patients who died, 23 (79%) were Malaysians and the 
main mortality diagnostic categories were respiratory disorder (22%), 
septicaemia (22%), haemato-oncological disease (17%) and neurological disorder 
(13%). Calculated standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were not significantly > 
1 for any patient category for variables such as age and admission diagnosis. 
However, infants less than two years old with comorbidities were significantly 
worse (SMR 2.61, 95% confidence interval 1.02-6.66).
CONCLUSION: The patient profile at our centre was similar to that reported from 
other PICUs in Asia. The PIM2 score is a useful mortality risk prediction model 
for our population.