Objective: The objective of the work was to assess the severity of the condition in children hospitalized at units of intensive and resuscitation care in hospitals of the Czech Republic, to assess the actual and predicted mortality and their ratio - the standardized mortality ratio - SMR. Type of study: Prospective observational multicentre study during Jan. 1. 2001 to Jan. 1, 2002. Place: 11 units of intensive and resuscitation paediatric care in hospitals Czech Republic. Patients: All children hospitalized in 2001 at intensive and resuscitation care units of collaborating departments. Method: In all children the PRISM score on admission was assessed, the predicted mortality was defined and the actual mortality was assessed as well as their ratio (SMR - standardised mortality ratio). The predicted mortality, actual mortality andSMR was assessed for different categories of patients by PRISM score on admission (0 - 4, 5 - 9, 10 - 14, 15 - 19, 20 - 24, 25 - 29, > 30). Results: A total of 2934 children were included in the study with a mean hospitalization period of 5.4 days and mean PRISM score of 5.6. The predicted mortality derived from the PRISM score was 4.6% (the death of 135 patientswas predicted).The actualmortalitywas 3.1%- 92 patients died. TheSMR is 0.68. Also in all categories according to the level of the PRISM score the actual mortality was lower than the predicted one (SMR < 1). Conclusion: The mean PRISM score of children hospitalized at intensive care units during the period of investigation was 5.6 which predicts a mortality of 4.6%. The actual mortality was 3.1% and the SMR 0.68. These data provide evidence of a very good standard of care provided by paediatric intensive care departments.

        Key words: PRISM score, intensive care, Standardised Mortality Ratio, children, quality