Synergistic impact of N-antigenemia profiled by a rapid antigen test and low anti-S1 antibodies on the risk of hospitalization in COVID-19.

OBJECTIVES: Identifying patients with COVID-19 who are at risk of poor evolution is key to early decide on their hospitalization. We evaluated the combined impact of nucleocapsid (N)-antigenemia profiled by a rapid test and antibodies against the S1 subunit of the SARS-CoV S protein (S1) on the hospitalization risk of patients with COVID-19. METHODS: N-antigenemia and anti-S1 antibodies were profiled at admission to the emergency department in 146 patients with COVID-19 using the Panbio® antigen Rapid Test and the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G II Quant/SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G assay from Abbott. A multivariable analysis was used to evaluate the impact of these factors on hospitalization. RESULTS: Patients with a positive N-antigen test in plasma and anti-S1 levels <2821 arbitrary units/mL needed hospitalization more frequently (20 of 23, 87%). A total of 20 of 71 (28.2%) of those showing a negative N-antigen test and anti-S1 ≥2821 arbitrary units/mL were hospitalized for 18 of 52 (34.6%) of the patients with only one of these conditions. Patients with a positive N-antigen test and low antibody levels showed an odds ratio, 95% confidence interval, and P-value for hospitalization of 18.21, 2.74-121.18, and 0.003, respectively, and exhibited the highest mortality (30.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Simultaneous profiling of a rapid N-antigen test in plasma and anti-S1 levels could help to early identify patients with COVID-19 needing hospitalization.

Blood Biomarkers for Assessing Headaches in Healthcare Workers after Wearing Biological Personal Protective Equipment in a COVID-19 Field Hospital.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a pandemic, which among other things, has highlighted biosafety as a key cornerstone in the management of disease transmission. The aim of this work was to analyze the role played by different blood biomarkers in predicting the appearance of headaches in healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) in a COVID-19 treatment unit. A prospective cohort study of 38 healthcare workers was performed during April 2020. Blood analysis, performed just before the start of a 4 hour shift, was carried out on all volunteers equipped with PPE. At the end of their shifts and after decontamination, they were asked if they had suffered from headache in order to obtain a binary outcome. The baseline creatinine value reflected a specific odds ratio of 241.36 (95% CI: 2.50-23,295.43; p = 0.019) and an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.737 (95%CI: 0.57-0.90; p < 0.01). Blood creatinine is a good candidate for predicting the appearance of a de novo headache in healthcare workers after wearing PPE for four hours in a COVID-19 unit.

The Value of Prehospital Early Warning Scores to Predict in - Hospital Clinical Deterioration: A Multicenter, Observational Base-Ambulance Study.

OBJECTIVES: Early warning scores are clinical tools capable of identifying prehospital patients with high risk of deterioration. We sought here to contrast the validity of seven early warning scores in the prehospital setting and specifically, to evaluate the predictive value of each score to determine early deterioration-risk during the hospital stay, including mortality at one, two, three and seven- days since the index event. Methods: A prospective multicenter observational based-ambulance study of patients treated by six advanced life support emergency services and transferred to five Spanish hospitals between October 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019. We collected demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables. Seven risk score were constructed based on the analysis of prehospital variables associated with death within one, two, three and seven days since the index event. The area under the receiver operating characteristics was used to determine the discriminant validity of each early warning score. Results: A total of 3,273 participants with acute diseases were accurately linked. The median age was 69 years (IQR, 54-81 years), 1,348 (41.1%) were females. The overall mortality rate for patients in the study cohort ranged from 3.5% for first-day mortality (114 cases), to 7% for seven-day mortality (228 cases). The scores with the best performances for one-day mortality were Vitalpac Early Warning Score with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of 0.873 (95% CI: 0.81-0.9), for two-day mortality, Triage Early Warning Score with an AUROC of 0.868 (95% CI: 0.83-0.9), for three and seven-days mortality the Modified Rapid Emergency Medicine Score with an AUROC of 0.857 (0.82-0.89) and 0.833 (95% CI: 0.8-0.86). In general, there were no significant differences between the scores analyzed. Conclusions: All the analyzed scores have a good predictive capacity for early mortality, and no statistically significant differences between them were found. The National Early Warning Score 2, at the clinical level, has certain advantages. Early warning scores are clinical tools that can help in the complex decision-making processes during critical moments, so their use should be generalized in all emergency medical services.

Can capillary lactate improve early warning scores in emergency department? An observational, prospective, multicentre study.

AIMS: To determine the prognostic usefulness of the National Early Warning Score-2 (NEWS2) and quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) scores, in isolation and combined with capillary lactate (CL), using the new NEWS2-L and qSOFA-L scores to predict the 30-day mortality risk. METHODS: Prospective, multicentre and observational study in patients across four EDs. We collected sets of vital signs and CL and subsequently calculated NEWS2, qSOFA, NEWS2-L and qSOFA-L scores when patients arrived at the ED. The main outcome measure was all-cause mortality 30 days from the index event. RESULTS: A total of 941 patients were included. Thirty-six patients (3.8%) died within 30 days of the index event. A high CL level has not been linked to a higher mortality. The NEWS2 presented AUROC of 0.72 (95% CI: 0.62-0.81), qSOFA of 0.66 (95% CI: 0.56-0.77) (P < .001 in both cases) and CL 0.55 (95% CI: 0.42-0.65; P = .229) to predict 30-day mortality. The addition of CL to the scores analysed does not improve the results of the scores used in isolation. CONCLUSION: NEWS2 and qSOFA scores are a very useful tool for assessing the status of patients who come to the ED in general for all types of patients in triage categories II and III and for detecting the 30-day mortality risk. CL determined systematically in the ED does not seem to provide information on the prognosis of the patients.

Accuracy of prehospital point-of-care lactate in early in-hospital mortality.

BACKGROUND: Emergency medical services (EMS) routinely face complex scenarios where decisions should be taken with limited clinical information. The development of fast, reliable and easy to perform warning biomarkers could help in such decision-making processes. The present study aims at characterizing the validity of point-of-care lactate (pLA) during prehospital tasks for predicting in-hospital mortality within two days after the EMS assistance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective, multicentric, ambulance-based and controlled observational study without intervention, including six advanced life support and five hospitals. The pLA levels were recorded during EMS assistance of adult patients. The validity of pLA to determine the in-hospital mortality was assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating curve (ROC). RESULTS: A total of 2997 patients were considered in the study, with a median of 69 years (IQR 54-81) and 41.4% of women. The median pLA value was 2.7 mmol/L (1.9-3.8) in survivors and 5.7 mmol/L (4.4-7.6) in nonsurvivors. The global discrimination level of pLA reached an AUC of 0.867, being 1.9 mmol/L and 4 mmol/L the cut-off point for low and high mortality. The discrimination value of pLA was not affected by sex, age or pathology. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the clinical importance of prehospital pLA to determine the in-hospital risk of mortality. The incorporation of pLA into the EMS protocols could improve the early identification of risky patients, leading to a better care of such patients.

Usefulness of infection biomarkers for diagnosing bacteremia in patients with a sepsis code in the emergency department.

The objective of this study was to assess the usefulness of the biomarkers lactate, C-reactive protein (CPR) and procalcitonin for the diagnosis of bacteremia in patients with suspected sepsis in the emergency department (ED) and according to the focus of infection. We conducted a retrospective study among patients included in the sepsis code of our ED between November 2013 and December 2017. We analyzed demographic variables, co-morbidity according to the Charlson Index and focus of infection, blood cultures and classification according to Gram staining. We determined the diagnostic performance of the biomarkers quantitatively and calculated the area under the curve (AUC) for global bacteremia and as a function of the focus of infection. We included 653 patients with a median age of 79 years (interquartile range: 66-86), of whom 287 (44.0% were women. The most frequent infectious focus was respiratory (36.1%]. Blood cultures were requested in 87.5% (569 cases). Of the tested samples, 31.3% were positive, of which 63.5% revealed Gram-negative (GN) bacteria. Procalcitonin obtained globally the best AUC 0.70 (95% CI: 0.65-0.75). The values with the best sensitivity and specificity were 2.54 ng/mL for procalcitonin, 4.1 mmol/L for lactate and 156 mg/L for CRP. We found an association between the median procalcitonin value and GN bacteria (6.02; IQR: 1.39-39.40) and Gram-positive bacteria (1.74; IQR: 0.22-15.61). Procalcitonin is the biomarker with the greatest capacity to diagnose bacteremia, particularly in GN infection. Stratification by focus is important since not all biomarkers discriminate in the same way.

Accuracy of National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) in Prehospital Triage on In-Hospital Early Mortality: A Multi-Center Observational Prospective Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION: In cases of mass-casualty incidents (MCIs), triage represents a fundamental tool for the management of and assistance to the wounded, which helps discriminate not only the priority of attention, but also the priority of referral to the most suitable center. HYPOTHESIS/PROBLEM: The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of different prehospital triage systems based on physiological parameters (Shock Index [SI], Glasgow-Age-Pressure Score [GAP], Revised Trauma Score [RTS], and National Early Warning Score 2 [NEWS2]) to predict early mortality (within 48 hours) from the index event for use in MCIs. METHODS: This was a longitudinal prospective observational multi-center study on patients who were attended by Advanced Life Support (ALS) units and transferred to the emergency department (ED) of their reference hospital. Collected were: demographic, physiological, and clinical variables; main diagnosis; and data on early mortality. The main outcome variable was mortality from any cause within 48 hours. RESULTS: From April 1, 2018 through February 28, 2019, a total of 1,288 patients were included in this study. Of these, 262 (20.3%) participants required assistance for trauma and injuries by external agents. Early mortality within the first 48 hours due to any cause affected 69 patients (5.4%). The system with the best predictive capacity was the NEWS2 with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.891 (95% CI, 0.84-0.94); a sensitivity of 79.7% (95% CI, 68.8-87.5); and a specificity of 84.5% (95% CI, 82.4-86.4) for a cut-off point of nine points, with a positive likelihood ratio of 5.14 (95% CI, 4.31-6.14) and a negative predictive value of 98.7% (95% CI, 97.8-99.2). CONCLUSION: Prehospital scores of the NEWS2 are easy to obtain and represent a reliable test, which make it an ideal system to help in the initial assessment of high-risk patients, and to determine their level of triage effectively and efficiently. The Prehospital Emergency Medical System (PhEMS) should evaluate the inclusion of the NEWS2 as a triage system, which is especially useful for the second triage (evacuation priority).

A Multicenter Observational Prospective Cohort Study of Association of the Prehospital National Early Warning Score 2 and Hospital Triage with Early Mortality.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the ability of the prehospital National Early Warning Score 2 scale (NEWS2) to predict early mortality (within 48 hours) after the index event based on the triage priority assigned for any cause in the emergency department. METHODS: This is a multicenter longitudinal observational cohort study on patients attending Advanced Life Support units and transferred to the emergency department of their reference hospital. We collected demographic, physiological, and clinical variables, main diagnosis, and hospital triage level as well as mortality. The main outcome variable was mortality from any cause within two days of the index event. RESULTS: Between April 1 and November 30, 2018, a total of 1054 patients were included in our study. Early mortality within the first 48 hours after the index event affected 55 patients (5.2%), of which 23 cases (41.8%) had causes of cardiovascular origin. In the stratification by triage levels, the AUC of the NEWS2 obtained for short-term mortality varied between 0.77 (95% CI: 0.65-0.89) for level I and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.79-1) for level III. CONCLUSIONS: The Prehospital Emergency Medical Services should evaluate the implementation of the NEWS2 as a routine evaluation, which, together with the structured hospital triage system, effectively serves to predict early mortality and detect high-risk patients.