Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jan;47(1):9-15.
doi: 10.1016/j.medin.2021.11.002. Epub 2021 Nov 30.

Multicenter validation of Early Warning Scores for detection of clinical deterioration in COVID-19 hospitalized patients

Affiliations

Multicenter validation of Early Warning Scores for detection of clinical deterioration in COVID-19 hospitalized patients

I A Huespe et al. Med Intensiva. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: Investigate the predictive value of NEWS2, NEWS-C, and COVID-19 Severity Index for predicting intensive care unit (ICU) transfer in the next 24 h.

Design: Retrospective multicenter study.

Setting: Two third-level hospitals in Argentina.

Patients: All adult patients with confirmed COVID-19, admitted on general wards, excluding patients with non-intubated orders.

Interventions: Patients were divided between those who were admitted to ICU and non-admitted. We calculated the three scores for each day of hospitalization.

Variables: We evaluate the calibration and discrimination of the three scores for the outcome ICU admission within 24, 48 h, and at hospital admission.

Results: We evaluate 13,768 days of hospitalizations on general medical wards of 1318 patients. Among these, 126 (9.5%) were transferred to ICU. The AUROC of NEWS2 was 0.73 (95%CI 0.68-0.78) 24 h before ICU admission, and 0.52 (95%CI 0.47-0.57) at hospital admission. The AUROC of NEWS-C was 0.73 (95%CI 0.68-0.78) and 0.52 (95%CI 0.47-0.57) respectively, and the AUROC of COVID-19 Severity Index was 0.80 (95%CI 0.77-0.84) and 0.61 (95%CI 0.58-0.66) respectively. COVID-19 Severity Index presented better calibration than NEWS2 and NEWS-C.

Conclusion: COVID-19 Severity index has better calibration and discrimination than NEWS2 and NEWS-C to predict ICU transfer during hospitalization.

Objetivo: Investigar el valor predictivo de los scores NEWS2, NEWS-C y COVID-19 Severity Index para predecir la transferencia de urgencia a la unidad de cuidados intensivos (UCI) en las próximas 24 horas.

Diseño: Estudio multicéntrico retrospectivo.

Ámbito: Dos hospitales de tercer nivel en Argentina.

Pacientes: Pacientes adultos con COVID-19, ingresados en salas generales, excluyendo pacientes con órdenes de no intubar.

Intervenciones: Se dividió a los pacientes entre los que ingresaron en la UCI y los que no ingresaron. Calculamos las tres puntuaciones para cada día de hospitalización.

Variables: Evaluamos la calibración y discriminación de las tres puntuaciones para predecir el traslado de urgencia a UCI en las 24, 48 h previas al pase a UCI y al ingreso hospitalario.

Resultados: Evaluamos 13.768 días de hospitalización en internación general de 1.318 pacientes, de los cuales 126 (9,5%) fueron trasladados a UCI. El AUROC del NEWS2 fue de 0,73 (IC 95% 0,68-0,78) 24 h antes del ingreso en UCI y de 0,52 (IC 95% 0,47-0,57) al ingreso hospitalario. El AUROC de NEWS-C fue de 0,73 (IC 95% 0,68-0,78) y 0,52 (IC 95% 0,47-0,57) respectivamente, y el AUROC del COVID-19 Severity Index fue de 0,80 (IC 95% 0,77-0,84) y 0,61 (IC 95% 0,58-0,66) respectivamente. El COVID-19 Severity Index presentó una mejor calibración que NEWS2 y NEWS-C.

Conclusión: El COVID-19 Severity Index presentó una mejor calibración y discriminación que NEWS2 y NEWS-C para predecir la transferencia de la UCI durante la hospitalización.

Keywords: COVID-19; Critical care; Early Warning Score; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient selection flow chart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
AUROC of the NEWS2, NEWS-C. and COVID-19 Severity Index for ICU transfer in the next 24 h.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Observed and predicted probabilities for each decile of predicted values for the three scores.

References

    1. Alam N., Hobbelink E.L., van Tienhoven A.J., van de Ven P.M., Jansma E.P., Nanayakkara P.W.B. The impact of the use of the Early Warning Score (EWS) on patient outcomes: a systematic review. Resuscitation. 2014;85:587–594. - PubMed
    1. National Early Warning Score (NEWS) 2, NEWS2 and deterioration in COVID-19; 2021. https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/news2-and-deterioration-covid-19 [consulted 5.11.21].
    1. Liao X., Wang B., Kang Y. Novel coronavirus infection during the 2019–2020 epidemic: preparing intensive care units—the experience in Sichuan Province, China. Intensive Care Med. 2020;46:357–360. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Su Y., Ju M.J., Xie R.C., Yu S.J., Zheng J.L., Ma G.-G., et al. Prognostic accuracy of Early Warning Scores for clinical deterioration in patients with COVID-19. Front Med. 2020;7:624255. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.624255. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huespe I., Carboni Bisso I., Di Stefano S., Terrasa S., Gemelli N.A., Las Heras M. COVID-19 severity index: a predictive score for hospitalized patients. Med Intensiva. 2020 - PMC - PubMed