The quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score, which includes mentation, systolic blood pressure, and respiratory rate, was developed to identify serious sepsis in out-of-hospital or emergency department (ED) settings. We evaluated the ability of the qSOFA score to predict poor outcome in South Korean ED patients with suspected infection.
Of 2,698 patients, in-hospital mortality occurred in 134 (5.0%). The mortality rate increased with increasing qSOFA score (2.2%, 6.4%, 17.5%, and 42.4% for qSOFA scores 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively, P<0.001). The admission rate, ICU admission rate, LOS, and lactate level also increased with increasing qSOFA score (all P<0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values for predicting in-hospital mortality associated with qSOFA score, lactate ≥2 mmol/L, and lactate ≥4 mmol/L were 0.719 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.670 to 0.768), 0.657 (95% CI, 0.603 to 0.710), and 0.632 (95% CI, 0.571 to 0.693), respectively.
CONCLUSION:
Patients with a higher qSOFA score had higher admission, ICU admission, and in-hospital mortality rates, longer LOS, and higher lactate level. The qSOFA score showed better performance for predicting poor outcome than lactate level.