ABSTRACT
Objective@#A retrospective study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of the delta neutrophil index as a prognosticfactor for mortality in intensive care unit patients admitted via the emergency department. @*Methods@#Patients, who presented to the emergency department and were admitted to the intensive care unit fromJanuary 2018 to August 2018, were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical features, inflammatory marker levels, such asC-reactive protein, lactate, simplified acute physiology score 3, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality were obtainedfrom the medical records. Patients, who visited the emergency department because of trauma or suicidal attempts,arrived after out-hospital cardiac arrest, or were diagnosed with cerebrovascular disease, were excluded. @*Results@#Of the 310 patients included, 65 died during their admission, and 245 patients were discharged after treatment.The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the delta neutrophil index (area under curve [AUC], 0.72), Creactiveprotein (AUC, 0.70), lactate (AUC, 0.64), and simplified acute physiology score 3 (AUC, 0.79) indicated a lowpredictive power for in-hospital mortality. Whole patients were divided into four subgroups (infectious diseases, cardiovasculardiseases, gastrointestinal bleeding diseases, and others). The receiver operating curve of delta neutrophil indexrevealed infectious diseases (AUC, 0.65), in cardiovascular diseases (AUC, 0.70), and gastrointestinal bleeding diseases(AUC, 0.79). @*Conclusion@#The role of the delta neutrophil index for predicting the prognosis of in-hospital mortality showed equally lowpredictive power for critically ill patients with the C-reactive protein and lactate.