Open AccessExploring the value of routinely measured hematology parameters for identification of elderly patients at high risk of death at the Emergency Department
Author(s) -
Renuka S. Bindraban,
Maarten J. ten Berg,
Saskia Haitjema,
Imo E. Hoefer,
Marieke de Regt,
Mark H. H. Kramer,
Wouter W. van Solinge,
Prabath W.B. Nanayakkara,
Christiana A. Naaktgeboren
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acute medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.14
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1747-4892
pISSN - 1747-4884
DOI - 10.52964/amja.0731
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency department , hematology , early warning score , emergency medicine , predictive value , intensive care medicine , psychiatry
Of the warning scores in use for recognition of high-risk patients at the Emergency Department (ED), few incorporate laboratory results. Although hematological characteristics have shown prognostic value in small studies, large studies in elderly ED populations are lacking. We studied the association between blood cell and platelet counts and characteristics as well as C-reactive protein (CRP) at ED presentation with mortality in non-multitrauma patients ≥ 65 years. Comparison between survivors and non-survivors showed small, significant differences with AUROCs ranging between 56.6% and 65.2% for 30-day mortality. Combining parameters yielded an evident improvement (AUROC of 70.4%). Efforts should be pursued to study the added value of hematological parameters on top of clinical data when assessing patient risk.