Monday, 23 March 2026

Comparative Performance of Sepsis Scoring Systems: An Indian Clinical Perspective |Chapter 7 | Medical Science: Updates and Prospects Vol. 7

 

Background: Sepsis continues to impose a major healthcare burden globally. Early identification and prompt initiation of appropriate therapy, particularly antibiotics, are critical determinants of survival. Various bedside scoring systems have been developed for early detection and prognostication of sepsis.

 

Objective: This chapter compares the predictive accuracy of Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), National Early Warning Score (NEWS), and Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) for in-hospital mortality among patients with suspected sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

 

Methods: This prospective comparative study was conducted in the Department of General Medicine and Critical Care at Dhiraj General Hospital, affiliated with Sumandeep Vidyapeeth University, Waghodia, Gujarat, India. A total of 188 adult patients with suspected sepsis admitted to the ICU were included. Clinical and laboratory parameters required to calculate SIRS, qSOFA, NEWS, and MEWS were recorded at admission. The Modified EWS (MEWS) score comprises five physiologic variables: systolic blood pressure (SBP), HR, RR, temperature, and mental status. The MEWS score considers the relative deviation from a patient’s normal blood pressure and urine output to identify surgical patients who would potentially benefit from intensive care. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) were calculated for each scoring system in predicting ICU mortality. Hierarchical Summary Receiver Operating Characteristic (HSROC) curve analysis was performed to compare overall prognostic accuracy.

 

Results: Among 188 patients, 42 (22.34%) died during hospitalisation. qSOFA ≥2 demonstrated the highest specificity (73.61%) but the lowest sensitivity (36.02%). SIRS ≥2 and NEWS ≥5 showed the highest sensitivity (77.78%), although SIRS had the lowest specificity (23.88%). MEWS ≥5 demonstrated balanced performance with a sensitivity of 76.36% and specificity of 63.91%. The highest discriminatory ability for ICU mortality was observed with MEWS ≥5 (AUROC 0.76; 95% CI 0.68–0.84), compared to NEWS ≥5 (AUROC 0.61), qSOFA ≥2 (AUROC 0.56), and SIRS ≥2 (AUROC 0.49). HSROC analysis confirmed the superior overall prognostic performance of MEWS. The better predictive accuracy of NEWS is most likely due to the fact that it incorporates a larger number of physiological parameters than qSOFA and SIRS, including the majority of their constituent atoms. Any scoring system for sepsis should favour better sensitivity over specificity because the consequences of false-negative results (delayed or missed therapy) are arguably much higher than those of false-positive results (unnecessary antibiotics). The AUROC for SIRS, however, was so low that it appears to have very little clinical use.

 

Conclusion: Among the four scoring systems evaluated, MEWS demonstrated the highest predictive accuracy for ICU mortality. However, none of the scoring systems achieved both high sensitivity and high specificity. These tools should therefore complement, rather than replace, comprehensive clinical assessment.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Hairya Ajaykumar Lakhani
SBKS Medical Institute and Research Centre, Vadodara, India.

 

Miloni Mineshbhai Nada
Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research (SMIMER), Affiliated to the Veer Narmad South Gujarat, University, Surat, India.

 

Aarjuv Majmundar
SBKS Medical Institute and Research Centre, Vadodara, India.

 

Sucheta Lakhani
SBKS Medical Institute and Research Centre, Vadodara, India.

 

Jitendra D Lakhani
SBKS Medical Institute and Research Centre, Vadodara, India.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/msup/v7/7173

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