Linking Endotypes and Outcomes in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Investigators will measure pre-determined biomarkers with known or suspected association with ARDS severity or outcome. Simultaneously, investigators will measure gene expression of peripheral blood. Both plasma biomarkers and gene expression profiles will be analyzed using various machine learning techniques, including classification and regression tree, latent class analysis, and hierarchical clustering with the goal of identifying sub-phenotypes of ARDS. These sub-phenotypes will be examined for association with outcome (primary is 28-day mortality), and explicitly tested for variation in response to exogenous treatments (e.g., corticosteroids).