Various scoring systems for predicting mortality in Intensive Care Unit

Context: Various scoring systems have been developed to predict mortality and morbidity in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but different data has been reported so far. Aims: This retrospective clinical study aims to evaluate predictability of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), APACHE IV, Simplified Acute Physiology Score III (SAPS III) scoring systems regarding with mortality. Settings and Design: Sixteen bed surgical-medical ICU in university hospital. Materials and Methods: The study comprised 487 patients older than 18 years treated in ICU for at least 24 h. Age, gender, body weight, initial diagnosis, clinic of referral, intubation, comorbidities, APACHE II, APACHE IV, Glasgow coma scale, SAPS III scores, length of hospitalization before referral to ICU, length of stay in ICU, mechanical ventilation were recorded. Results: Most of the patients (54.6%) were consulted from operating room. The most frequent diagnosis was acute respiratory failure. Total mortality rate was 26%. Mortality rate was higher in patients admitted from wards other than surgery (48%) (P 0.005). In the presence of comorbidities, mortality rate was higher with comorbidities than without (P 0.05). Regression analysis indicated a significant positive relationship between length of stay in ICU, length of mechanical ventilation and high mortality risk in patients referred from emergency service (P 0.05). Accuracy rates of predicting mortality were 81%, 79%, and 81% for APACHE II, APACHE IV, and SAPS III, respectively. Conclusions: The investigated scoring systems are similar in sensitivity and specificity mortality prediction whereas the accuracy was higher for SAPS III and APACHE II than APACHE III in our patient population.