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Introduction: Sepsis has a mortality rate of 10-40% worldwide. Many screening tools for sepsis prediction and for emergency department (ED) triage are controversial. This study compared the accuracy of the scores for predicting 28-day mortality in adult patients with sepsis in the triage area of the ED. Methods: Adult patients who presented to the ED of a tertiary-care university hospital from January–December 2019 with an initial diagnosis of sepsis or other infection-related conditions were enrolled. We calculated predictive scores using information collected in the ED triage area. Prognostic accuracy was measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for predicting 28-day mortality as a primary outcome. The secondary outcomes included mechanical ventilation usage and vasopressor usage for 28 days. Results: We analyzed a total of 550 patients. The 28-day mortality rate was 12.4% (n = 68). The 28-day mortality rate was best detected by the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) (AUROC = 0.770; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.705-0.835), followed by the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score (AUROC = 0.7473; 95% CI: 0.688-0.806), Search Out Severity (SOS) score (AUROC = 0.749; 95% CI: 0.685-0.815), Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage (AUROC = 0.599; 95% CI: 0.542-0.656, and the Systemic Inflammatory Response System (SIRS) criteria (AUROC = 0.588; 95% CI: 0.522-0.654]). The NEWS also provided a higher AUROC and outperformed for 28-day mechanical ventilator usage and 28-day vasopressor usage. Conclusion: The NEWS outperforms qSOFA, SOS, SIRS, and ESI triage in predicting 28-day mortality, mechanical ventilator, and vasopressor usage of a patient with sepsis who is seen at ED triage.

Introduction: The Surviving Sepsis Campaign published the Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle in 2018. The first-hour management of patients with sepsis in the emergency department (ED) is important, as suggested in the Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate 28-day mortality and delayed septic shock with use of a complete and incomplete Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle in the ED. Methods: This prospective cohort study included adult patients with sepsis from March to July 2019. We followed the sepsis protocol used in the ED of a tertiary care hospital. Results: We enrolled 593 patients, with 55.9% in the complete Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle group. The 28-day mortality was 3.9% overall and no significant difference between the complete and incomplete Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle groups (3.6% vs. 4.2%, P = 0.707). Complete Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle treatment was not associated with 28-day mortality (adjusted OR = 2.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.72–5.74, P = 0.176) or delayed septic shock (adjusted OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.30–1.78, P = 0.499). Completion of each bundle did not affect outcomes of 28-day mortality and delayed septic shock. Conclusions: The complete Hour-1 Sepsis Bundle treatment in the ED was not significantly associated with 28-day mortality and delayed septic shock. Trial registration: The trial was registered in the Thai Clinical Trial Registry, TCTR 20200526013.

Background Sepsis screening in the emergency department (ED) is challenging. The quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score had poor accuracy for predicting mortality in both the intensive care unit and ED. High lactate levels were associated with an increased mortality. However, a previous study using lactate levels in combination with the qSOFA score did not observe a meaningful improvement in predictive accuracy. This study assessed the prognostic accuracy of venous lactate levels plus the qSOFA (VqSOFA) score for predicting 28-day mortality. Methods Patients who visited the Ramathibodi ED with suspected sepsis were enrolled. The VqSOFA, qSOFA, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores were calculated using the initial vital signs and laboratory values. Prognostic accuracy was measured using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of the VqSOFA score and Sepsis-3 criteria for predicting 28-day mortality. Results In total, 1,139 patients were enrolled, 118 of whom died within 28 days of admission. The AUROCs of the VqSOFA, qSOFA, and SOFA scores were 0.851 (95% CI 0.813-0.889), 0.813 (95% CI 0.772-0.854), and 0.728 (95% CI 0.671-0.784), respectively. Using VqSOFA score ≥ 3 as the cutoff, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive likelihood ratio were 74.6%, 82.5%, and 4.25%, respectively. VqSOFA ≥ 3 was linked to a low probability of 28-day survival and higher odds of vasopressor and ventilator use within 24 h. Conclusions VqSOFA was more predictive of 28-day mortality and vasopressor and mechanical ventilator use than the qSOFA and SOFA scores.