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. 2023 Jan 24:17:11795484231152305.
doi: 10.1177/11795484231152305. eCollection 2023.

The Role of Early Warning Scoring Systems NEWS and MEWS in the Acute Exacerbation of COPD

Christina Triantafyllidou  1 , Petros Effraimidis  1 , Konstantinos Vougas  2   3 , Jonas Agholme  1 , Mirjam Schimanke  1 , Karin Cederquist  1
Affiliations

The Role of Early Warning Scoring Systems NEWS and MEWS in the Acute Exacerbation of COPD

Christina Triantafyllidou et al. Clin Med Insights Circ Respir Pulm Med. .

Abstract

Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are the most devastating events in the course of the disease. Our aim was to investigate the value of early warning scoring systems: National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) in AECOPD. This is a prospective observational study of patients with AECOPD who were admitted at hospital. The NEWS and MEWS scores were registered at admission (NEWS-d1, MEWS-d1) and on the second day (NEWS-d2, MEWS-d2). A nasopharyngeal and sputum sample was taken for culture. Follow-up was done at 3 and 6 months after hospitalization. Any possible correlations between NEWS and MEWS and other parameters of COPD were explored. A cohort of 64 patients were included. In-hospital mortality was 4.7% while total mortality at 6 months was 26%. We did not find any significant correlation between in-hospital mortality and any of the scores but we could show a higher mortality and more frequent AECOPD at 6 months of follow-up for those with higher NEWS-d2. NEWS-d2 was associated with higher pCO2 at presentation and a more frequent use of NIV. Higher NEWS-d1 and NEWS-d2 were predictive of a longer hospital stay. The presence of pathogens in the nasopharyngeal sample was related with a higher reduction of both scores on the second day. We therefore support the superiority of NEWS in the evaluation of hospitalized patients with AECOPD. A remaining high NEWS at the second day of hospital stay signals a high risk of hypercapnia and need of NIV but also higher mortality and more frequent exacerbations at 6 months after AECOPD.

Keywords: Mortality; hospital stay; nasopharyngeal sample; non-invasive ventilation; sputum cultures.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Scatter plot showing that higher pCO2 at presentation at the emergency department was significantly related with higher NEWS-d2 (P < 0.001).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(A) The duration of hospital stay was best correlated with NEWS-d2 (P = 0.002), scatter plot. (B) Higher NEWS-d2 was also associated with a more frequent need of NIV at hospital (P < 0.001), violin plot.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(A) Violin plot showing that a higher mortality rate within six months after AECOPD was correlated with higher NEWS-d2 score (P = 0.008). (B) Higher NEWS-d2 was associated with more frequent acute exacerbations at 6 months of follow up as well (P = 0.03), scatter plot.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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