qSOFA score may predict prognosis in ICU patients with sepsis across socioeconomic levels: Study

Recent research paper investigates the association between Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) and 28-day mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients admitted for sepsis, focusing on different income settings. The study included 4980 patients from 343 ICUs and 22 countries, analyzing the association of qSOFA with early (3-day), medium (28-day), and late (90-day) mortality in low, lower middle, upper middle, and high-income countries/regions. The study found that higher qSOFA was associated with increasing 28-day and 90-day mortality in low and lower middle income countries, and only with early mortality in high-income countries. Multivariate analysis showed that qSOFA remained associated with 28-day mortality even after adjustments for confounders. The study also compared the predictive performance of qSOFA with APACHE II, SIRS, and SOFA, and explored the impact of lactate measurement on qSOFA sepsis mortality prediction. Additionally, the study described the characteristics and outcomes of different clinical sepsis phenotypes in patients meeting Sepsis-3 SOFA, SIRS, and qSOFA criteria. The findings suggest that qSOFA was independently associated with 28-day mortality in ICU patients admitted for sepsis, and its predictive performance varied across different income settings. The study also highlighted the clinical utility and limitations of qSOFA in prognosticating sepsis mortality, providing valuable insights for clinicians and researchers.

Reference -

Li, A., Ling, L., Qin, H. et al. Prognostic evaluation of quick sequential organ failure assessment score in ICU patients with sepsis across different income settings. Crit Care 28, 30 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-024-04804-7.