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Introduction: Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) is a network fostering clinical research to optimize care for critically ill children. We aim to examine the efforts of the PALISI Network to increase gender parity in research, as evidenced by authorship., Methods: The first and senior authors of all published PALISI articles from 2002 to 2021 were analyzed for gender of presentation. Funding sources, impact factors, professional roles, and location were extracted., Results: We identified 303 articles, 61 published from 2002 to 2011, and 242 from 2012 to 2021. There were 302 first authors, representing 188 unique individuals, and 283 senior authors, representing 119 unique individuals. Over half (55.6%, n  = 168) of the first authors were women. More women were first authors from 2012 to 2021 ( n  = 145, 60.2%) as compared to the years 2002-2011 [37.7%, n  = 23, OR = 2.50 (95% CI: 1.40, 4.45, p  = 0.002)]. Senior authors were 36.0% ( n  = 102) women, with no change over time. Women senior authors had a higher proportion of women first authors (67.7% vs. 32.4%, p  = 0.017). No gender differences were noted based on article type or impact factor. The majority of authors came from institutions in the United States. Women had comparatively more NIH and CDC funding but received less funding from foundations and AHRQ., Discussion: In PALISI publications, first authorship by women has increased over time, such that it now exceeds both the proportion of women pediatric intensivists and women first authors in critical care publications. Senior authorship by women has been stagnant. A multifactorial approach by individuals, institutions, networks, and journals is needed to bring senior women authors to parity., Competing Interests: We would like to thank PALISI for being such a supportive organization and for being our research home. Additionally, we thank Siena Kaplan for her help with data extraction.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. CMR received funding from NHLBI K23 HL 150244 unrelated to this work., (© 2023 Jeyapalan, Brown, Gaspers, Haliani, Kudchadkar, Rowan and Gertz.)

Objective: To identify risk factors for persistent impairments after pediatric hospitalization for acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic., Methods: Across 25 U.S. Overcoming COVID-19 Network hospitals, we conducted a prospective cohort study of patients <21-years-old hospitalized for acute COVID-19 or MIS-C (May 2020 to March 2022) surveyed 2- to 4-months post-admission. Multivariable regression was used to calculate adjusted risk ratios (aRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)., Results: Of 232 children with acute COVID-19, 71 (30.6%) had persistent symptoms and 50 (21.6%) had activity impairments at follow-up; for MIS-C ( n  = 241), 56 (23.2%) had persistent symptoms and 58 (24.1%) had activity impairments. In adjusted analyses of patients with acute COVID-19, receipt of mechanical ventilation was associated with persistent symptoms [aRR 1.83 (95% CI: 1.07, 3.13)] whereas obesity [aRR 2.18 (95% CI: 1.05, 4.51)] and greater organ system involvement [aRR 1.35 (95% CI: 1.13, 1.61)] were associated with activity impairment. For patients with MIS-C, having a pre-existing respiratory condition was associated with persistent symptoms [aRR 3.04 (95% CI: 1.70, 5.41)] whereas obesity [aRR 1.86 (95% CI: 1.09, 3.15)] and greater organ system involvement [aRR 1.26 (1.00, 1.58)] were associated with activity impairments., Discussion: Among patients hospitalized, nearly one in three hospitalized with acute COVID-19 and one in four hospitalized with MIS-C had persistent impairments for ≥2 months post-hospitalization. Persistent impairments were associated with more severe illness and underlying health conditions, identifying populations to target for follow-up., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (© 2023 Maddux, Young, Kucukak, Zambrano, Newhams, Rollins, Halasa, Gertz, Mack, Schwartz, Kong, Loftis, Irby, Rowan, Tarquinio, Zinter, Crandall, Cvijanovich, Schuster, Fitzgerald, Staat, Hobbs, Nofziger, Shein, Flori, Cullimore, Chatani, Levy, Typpo, Hume, Campbell, Randolph and the Overcoming COVID-19 Investigators.)