LOS ANGELES – Instead of replacing the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) score with the new quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score to identify severe sepsis patients, it might be best to use both, according to two studies presented at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting.
The gold standard 3rd International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock Task Force recently introduced qSOFA to replace SIRS, in part because SIRS is too sensitive. With criteria that include a temperature above 38° C; a heart rate above 90 bpm, and a respiratory rate above 20 breaths per minute, it’s possible to score positive on SIRS by walking up a flight of stairs, audience members at the study presentations noted.
The first study at the meeting session – a prospective cohort of 152 patients scored by both systems within 8 hours of ICU admission at the New York–Presbyterian Hospital – found that qSOFA was slightly better at predicting in-hospital mortality and ICU-free days, but no better than SIRS at predicting ventilator- or organ failure–free days.
However, of the 36% of patients (55) who met only one of the three qSOFA criteria - a respiratory rate of 22 breaths per minute, altered mental status, or a systolic blood pressure of 100 mg Hg or less - 6% (3) died in the hospital. Of those patients, two-thirds (2) were SIRS positive, meaning that they met two or more SIRS criteria.
“Having a borderline qSOFA of 1 point, which is considered negative, with the addition of having SIRS criteria, should raise concerns that patients need further evaluation. SIRS criteria should not be [entirely] discarded” in favor of qSOFA, said lead investigator Eli Finkelsztein, MD, of the New York–Presbyterian Hospital in New York City
The second study – a review of 6,811 severe sepsis/septic shock patients scored by both systems within 3 hours of emergency department admission at the University of Kansas Hospital emergency department in Kansas City – found that the two scores performed largely the same when it came to predicting ICU admission and 30-day mortality, but that people who met two or more criteria in both systems were of special concern.
Twenty-five percent of patients (1,713) scored 2 or more on both SIRS and qSOFA. These patients were more likely to be admitted to the ICU and be readmitted to the hospital after a month, compared with those patients who were positive in only one scoring system or negative in both. Additional factors associated with these patients were that they had the longest ICU and hospital lengths of stay. Two hundred (12%) of these patients scoring 2 or more on both SIRS and qSOFA died within 30 days.
“SIRS criteria continue to be more sensitive at identifying severe sepsis, but they are equally as accurate [as qSOFA criteria] at predicting adverse patient outcomes,” said lead investigator and Kansas University medical student Amanda Deis.
SIRS and qSOFA take only a few seconds to assess at the bedside. Using both builds “a clinical picture,” she said.
There was no industry funding for the work, and the investigators had no relevant financial disclosures.