Prediction of mortality in septic shock patients

ABSTRACT

In patients with septic shock, recently developed organ failure scores, such as the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [SOFA] can help assess organ dysfunction or Failure over time and are useful to evaluate morbidity. We conducted a prospective study, randomized study comparing the prognostic value of SOFA score with that of C reactive protein, APACHE score, leucocytic count and lactic acid in septic shock patients admitted to intensive care unit. Our sample study population included 16 patients with septic shock; mean age was 66.6 +/- 18 years, 9 males [56%] and 7 females [44%], 6 patients [38%] had medical diagnosis and 10 [62%] had surgical diagnosis. Patients were segregated into two groups; survivors and non-survivors. SOFA score shows highly statistically significant difference between survivors and non-survivors [2.5 +/- 2.12 vs. 7.8 +/- 2.16, p= 0.032] in comparison to APACHE II score [21 +/- 4.98 vs. 21.25 +/- 7.80, p= 0.947], CRP [10.68 +/- 11.99 vs. 7.29 +/- 3.1, p=0.53], TLC [19.700 +/- 18.66 vs. 13.000 +/- 2.311, p=0.39] and lactate level [1.45 +/- 1.9 vs. 4.1 +/- 0.187, p=0.036]. SOFA score allowed a simple and effective evaluation of organ dysfunction severity profile in patients with septic shock in comparison to other prognostic markers. In addition, its repeated measurement by including alterations over time could help refine outcome prediction