Table 1

Physiological stability classification

1. Critically unstable/moribund	Deteriorating despite high levels of intervention and full organ support. Infants were included in this category if they had protracted bradycardia or anuria for >24 h, hypotension despite volume infusion and inotropes; persistent desaturation despite mechanical ventilation and 100% oxygen.
2. Stable, requiring high level of support	Infants requiring a high level of organ support, but not meeting criteria 1 (above). Infants were included in this category if they were mechanically ventilated requiring ≥80% oxygen and/or a mean airway pressure of ≥14 cm H₂O; had vasopressor-resistant hypotension requiring infusion of ≥20 µg/kg/min dobutamine/dopamine or requiring adrenaline infusion.
3. Physiologically stable	All other infants not fulfilling the above criteria

Criteria were modified from Verhagen et al,2 with addition of an additional category (2) to distinguish decisions likely to be based on quality of life, from decisions that may reflect a high (but not inevitable) chance of death.