To investigate the value of quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score in early identification for sepsis patients of different ages.

A retrospective study was conducted. The clinical data of 1 529 patients with suspected infection in emergency department of Changshu No.2 People's Hospital from September 2017 to March 2020 were collected. All patients were assessed for qSOFA score, and the diagnosis and treatment were recorded. Sepsis-3 was defined as the diagnostic criteria for sepsis. All the patients were divided into five groups according to age, youth group (< 45 years old), middle-aged group (45-59 years old), presenile group (60-74 years old), elderly group (75-89 years old), and longevity group (≥90 years old). The patients' examination results, diagnosis and treatment status were collected. The distribution of different scores of qSOFA was analyzed to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of different qSOFA scores for the diagnosis of sepsis in patients with suspected infection of different ages. The receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was drawn to analyze the diagnostic value of qSOFA score for sepsis in patients with suspected infection at different ages.

Of 1 529 suspected infection patients, there were 67 patients in youth group, 129 patients in middle-aged group, 465 patients in presenile group, 778 patients in elderly group and 90 patients in longevity group. There were significant differences in lactic acid (Lac), total bilirubin (TBil), creatinine (Cr), qSOFA score and the increased value of SOFA score compared with the basic value (ΔSOFA) among the suspected infection patients at different ages. Among suspected infection patients at different ages, the patients with qSOFA score ≥ 1 were the most, and the proportion of sepsis patients was larger. Further analysis showed that qSOFA score ≥1 had a high diagnostic sensitivity in patients with suspected infection at different ages. In the youth group, the sensitivity was 84.4%, and the specificity was the highest (74.3%). Although qSOFA score ≥ 2 had a high specificity in the diagnosis of sepsis (all > 97%), its sensitivity was very low (all < 44%). In this study, all patients with a qSOFA score of 3 were sepsis, and the positive predictive value of the diagnosis of sepsis in each group was 100%. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under ROC curve (AUC) of qSOFA score for the diagnosis of sepsis in all suspected infection patients was 0.771 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 0.747-0.794], when the best cut-off value was 0.5, the sensitivity was 93.4% and the specificity was 45.6%. Among suspected infection patients of all ages, the accuracy of qSOFA score in the diagnosis of sepsis in the youth group and the longevity group was relatively high, with AUC (95%CI) of 0.825 (0.724-0.927) and 0.837 (0.756-0.917), respectively; when the best cut-off value was 0.5, the sensitivity was 84.4% or 92.2%, and the specificity was 74.3% or 56.4%, respectively.

qSOFA score has an early diagnosis value for sepsis, especially in the patients aged < 45 years old or ≥ 90 years old. Using qSOFA score ≥2 to screen patients with suspected infection is likely to cause missed diagnosis.

Sepsis; Quick sequential organ failure assessment; Diagnosis