Introduction: Sepsis has been redefined as a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. The quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment (qSOFA) is a simple tool developed to prompt clinicians to consider patients at high risk for poor outcome. Studies have compared its utility with National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria. These scoring systems may be utilized to prognosticate illness severity among patients with suspected infection and may be relevant in low- and middle-income settings where laboratory data are not readily available. Objective: To determine and compare the accuracy of qSOFA, NEWS, and SIRS criteria in predicting in-hospital mortality in patients suspected to have infection presenting at the emergency department (ED) Methods: This is a prospective cohort study. Patients ≥18 years old with suspected infection admitted to the ED between June 2018 to July 2018 were included in the study. SIRS, NEWS, and qSOFA scores were collected at presentation and patients were followed up until expired or discharged. Results: A final population of 213 were included in the study with a mean age of 47 years (SD 21.2) and 124 (58.2%) females. The most common site of infection was respiratory (33.8%). Twelve patients (5.6%) died in-hospital. Among patients with qSOFA≥2, mortality rate was at 38% vs 3.5% for qSOFA<2. Specificity for mortality was highest for qSOFA (96%). Sensitivity was highest for SIRS (75%). SIRS, qSOFA, and NEWS had no significant difference in predicting in-hospital mortality with an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.659, 0.711, 0.711 respectively. Conclusion SIRS, qSOFA, and NEWS have similar prognostic accuracy to predict mortality but have limited use when applied individually which brings into question the sole utility of qSOFA despite its high specificity. It is reasonable to further validate or develop new scoring systems with higher predictive accuracy appropriate across different populations.
Sepsis ; News