Patients Hospitalized in General Wards via the Emergency Department: Early Identification of Predisposing Factors for Death or Unexpected Intensive Care Unit Admission—A Historical Prospective
Table 2
Clinical and biological variables linked to the target event (death or unplanned ICU or HDU admission during the first 15 days of hospitalization).
Missing values (%)
Patients with target event ()
Patients free of target event ()
valuec
Categorical variables
Male gender
0
53 (68.8%)
2443 (53.8%)
0.0107
Underlying diseases and past medical unknown history
0
6 (7.8%)
194 (4.3%)
0.147
COPD
0
13 (16.9%)
375 (8.3%)
0.012
Solid unresolved cancer
0
1 (1.3%)
291 (6.4%)
0.0916
Chronic arterial hypertension
0
30 (39%)
954 (21%)
0.0004
Coronaropathy
0
12 (15.6%)
460 (10.1%)
0.1268
Diabetes mellitus type II
0
13 (16.9%)
364 (7.7%)
0.0082
Diabetes mellitus type I or II
0
16 (20.8%)
592 (12.7%)
0.0558
Unknown current medications
0
16 (20.8%)
473 (10.4%)
0.0075
Beta-blockers
0
16 (20.8%)
506 (11.1%)
0.0162
Diuretics
0
16 (20.8%)
588 (12.9%)
0.0582
Oral anticoagulant
0
10 (13%)
368 (8.1%)
0.1375
NSAID
0
18 (23.4%)
635 (14%)
0.03
Psychoactive drugs
0
31 (40.3%)
1459 (32.1%)
0.1404
Admission for possible bacterial infectiona
0
27 (37.1%)
1064 (23.4%)
0.0212
Admission for acute intoxication
0
1 (1.3%)
646 (14.2%)
0.0002
Oxygen administration during the ED stay
0
36 (46.8%)
742 (16.3%)
<0.0001
Presence of SIRSb during the ED stay
0
51 (53.7%)
953 (31.8%)
<0.0001
Continuous variables
Age (yrs)
0
<0.0001
Minimal heart rate (beats/min)
0
0.1323
Maximal heart rate (beats/min)
0
0.0029
Minimal systolic blood pressure (mmHg)
0
0.0258
Minimal diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)
0
0.1042
Minimal body temperature (°C)
0
0.111
Capillary blood glucose level (g/L)
21.8
()
()
0.0007
Minimal SpO2 (%)
29.6
()
()
<0.0001
Minimal respiratory rate (cycles/min)
37.8
()
()
0.04
Maximal respiratory rate (cycles/min)
37.8
()
()
<0.0001
Platelet count (G/L)
12.2
()
()
0.0041
Neutrophils count (G/L)
12.2
()
()
0.056
Prothrombin time (INR)
13.2
()
()
<0.0001
Serum chloride (mEq/L)
13.6
()
()
0.0027
Blood protein level (g/L)
13.6
()
()
0.1312
Serum creatinine (mol/L)
13.6
()
()
0.0097
Anion gap (mEq/L)
13.6
()
()
0.0077
Admission for possible bacterial infection: recent fever and/or antibiotics prescribed before or during ED admission. As respiratory rate was not recorded in 37.8% of the cases and leukocytes count was not performed in 12.2% of the cases, the incidence of SIRS was underestimated; categorical variables were compared by Fisher’s exact test and continuous variables by unpaired two-tailed Student’s -test. ICU: intensive care unit; HDU: high dependency unit; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ACEI: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors; ARB: angiotensin receptor blockers; ED: emergency department; NSAID: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; SIRS: systemic inflammatory response syndrome; SpO2: oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry.