Procalcitonin and qSOFA as a Marker of Mortality in Sepsis.

BACKGROUND

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. The qSOFA and procalcitonin are currently used for both diagnostic as well as prognostic purposes.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the combined use of day one procalcitonin level and qSOFA scores for prognostication of sepsis-related mortality.

DESIGN

This was a prospective observational study.

PARTICIPANTS

All patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria for sepsis with an age of more than 16 years were enrolled in the study.

RESULTS

In this study of 211 patients, 15 patients died (7.1%) during hospital stay. Among the 15 patients who died, the highest mortality of 29.4% was seen in patients with qSOFA of "3", qSOFA of "2" had a mortality of 12.8%, qSOFA of "1" had a mortality of 1% and qSOFA of "0" had zero mortality. In this study, procalcitonin had a statistically significant positive correlation/association with both qSOFA and mortality.

CONCLUSION

The qSOFA and procalcitonin at presentation to the emergency department in septic patients have a significant correlation with mortality in patients hospitalized with sepsis. Obtaining these two parameters at presentation will help in managing aggressively these patients who at presentation have higher qSOFA and procalcitonin levels.