The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of philanthropic public hospitals belonging to the Unified Health System serves children with the most varied pathologies, clinical and surgical, being a reference for many services in the metropolitan region. Technological advances in health and the improvement of public policies in the prevention, control, and fight against child injuries gradually contribute to reducing infant mortality rates.

To identify the epidemiological profile and clinical evolution of children and adolescents hospitalized in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of a reference hospital in Natal/RN in physiotherapeutic follow-up.

Descriptive and retrospective study carried out at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital Infantil Varela Santiago (reference in Neurosurgical and Oncological care), Natal/RN, through quantitative analysis of data from medical records of children between 0 and 15 years old in physiotherapeutic follow-up in the first quarter of 2023 (January to March). Age, sex, evolution to discharge/death, length of hospital stays, need for mechanical ventilation, and duration of mechanical ventilation were obtained by descriptive and retrospective analysis of medical records, with categorical variables expressed in absolute frequencies and percentages and continuous variables, presented as averages and standard deviation.

Sixty-three (63) children were admitted to Physiotherapy, 34 boys (53.96%) with a mean age of 3.77±4.29 years. The length of stay in the ICU was 14.3 ± 22.8 days; 21 children (33.33%) required invasive mechanical ventilation, with a mean IMV time of 14.8±17.3 days. As an outcome, 15 children (23.80%) were transferred to other services or discharged straight home, 39 (61.90%) were discharged to the ward, 6 (9.52%) died, and 3 (4.76%) remained hospitalized.

We observed a predominance of male children in this Intensive Care Unit, with an average age of 3.7 years. The length of stay can be correlated with the complexity of the Unit in question (neurosurgical and oncology children), with a mortality rate below 10%.

Knowledge of the profile of this Unit implies improvement in care, optimization of treatment, reduction of expenses, and length of stay during hospitalization.