Development and validation of a laboratory risk score for the early prediction of COVID-19 severity and in-hospital mortality.
Salam Bennouar, Abdelghani Bachir Cherif, Amel Kessira and 2 others
PMID 33487518WHAT IT FOUND
A seven-point admission lab score separated COVID-19 patients by risk.
Higher scores were linked to severe disease and death, including 100% mortality at the highest level in the validation group.
Key findings
01The score combined age above 60 years with six admission lab abnormalities: low sodium, high urea, high CRP, high NLR, high LDH, and low albumin.
02In both cohorts, higher score levels were associated with more severe disease; in the development cohort all patients at S6 and S7 had severe forms, and in the validation cohort all patients at S7 had severe forms.
03At the highest score level, mortality was 66.7% in the development cohort and 100% in the validation cohort.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a retrospective single-centre study, so the findings may not apply to other hospitals or countries. The validation cohort came from the same hospital as the development cohort, not an external site. The score used only biological parameters, without clinical or radiological features. Most patients were still hospitalised at the end of follow-up, so their status could change.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest, and the research did not receive any specific grant.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this score as a proven triage tool. It was developed and validated retrospectively in one hospital, used only biological parameters, and most patients were still hospitalised at the end of follow-up.