Authors' response: Novel criteria for dyspnea patients

ABSTRACT

Dear Editor, We would like to thank the authors of the recent letter “Novel Criteria for Dyspnea Patients” for sharing their concerns after reading our manuscript. In this study, we discussed the possibility of improving early patient assessment and identifying the presence of significant hypoxemia by using the SpO2/FiO2 ratio for all patients admitted for respiratory symptoms. Patients characteristics N = 395 Age, median (IQR) 60 (44–78) Gender, male, N (%) 193 (48.9%) Comorbidities Cardiac, N (%) 91 (23.0%) Heart failure, N (%) 71 (18.0%) Atrial fibrillation, N (%) 40 (10.1%) Coronary artery disease, N (%) 30 (7.6%) Other cardiac disease, N (%) 33 (8.4%) Pulmonary, N (%) 118 (29.9%) Asthma, N (%) 48 (12.2%) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), N (%) 51 (12.9%) Lung carcinosis, N (%) 10 (2.53%) Restrictive lung disease, N (%) 16 (4.05%) Other, N (%) 10 (2.53%) Acute kidney failure, N (%) 33 (8.4%) Chronic kidney disease, N (%) 29 (7.34%) COVID-19 status Positive, N (%) 90 (22.8%) Negative, N (%) 305 (77.2%) Diagnosis at discharge Pulmonary disease, N (%) 291 (73.7%) SARS-CoV-2, N (%) 90 (22.8%) COPD exacerbation, N (%) 21 (5.32%) Acute asthma, N (%) 18 (4.56%) Pneumonia, N (%) 49 (12.4%) Cardiogenic pulmonary oedema, N (%) 21 (5.32%) Respiratory acute viral syndrome (undetermined), N (%) 72 (18.3%) Others, N (%) 20 (5.06%) Extra-respiratory disease, N (%) 104 (26.3%) Vital signs Heart rate, median (IQR) 88 (77–101) Systolic blood pressure, median (IQR) 129 (115–144) Diastolic blood pressure, median (IQR) 77 (68–87) SpO2, median (IQR) 97 (95–99) Ventilatory rate, median (IQR) 22 (18–28) Temperature (°C), median (IQR) 37 (36.6–37.5) Blood gas analysis N = 430 Sample from COVID-19 patient, N (%) 94 (21.9%) FiO2 (%), median (IQR) 21 (21–29) PaO2 (mm Hg), median (IQR) 83.3 (71.3–97.5) SaO2 (%), median (IQR) 97.9 (96.4–98.9) PaCO2 (mm Hg), median (IQR) 36.0 (32.3–40.5) pH, median (IQR) 7.44 (7.41–7.47) PaO2/FiO2 (mm Hg), median (IQR) 364.3 (269.5–450) PaO2/FiO2 > 400, N (%) 164 (38.1%) PaO2/FiO2 300–400, N (%) 132 (30.7%) PaO2/FiO2 < 300, N (%) 134 (31.2%) SaO2/FiO2, median (IQR) 461.2 (339.0–470.5) SpO2/FiO2, median (IQR) 452.4 (337.9–466.7) Table 1 Characteristics of study subjects and samples.