Unpacking Prevalence and Dichotomy in Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment and Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome Parameters: Observational Data–Driven Approach Backed by Sepsis Pathophysiology

Abstract

Background Considering morbidity, mortality, and annual treatment costs, the dramatic rise in the incidence of sepsis and septic shock among intensive care unit (ICU) admissions in US hospitals is an increasing concern. Recent changes in the sepsis definition (sepsis-3), based on the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), have motivated the international medical informatics research community to investigate score recalculation and information retrieval, and to study the intersection between sepsis-3 and the previous definition (sepsis-2) based on systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) parameters. Objective The objective of this study was three-fold. First, we aimed to unpack the most prevalent criterion for sepsis (for both sepsis-3 and sepsis-2 predictors). Second, we intended to determine the most prevalent sepsis scenario in the ICU among 4 possible scenarios for qSOFA and 11 possible scenarios for SIRS. Third, we investigated the multicollinearity or dichotomy among qSOFA and SIRS predictors. Methods This observational study was conducted according to the most recent update of Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-III, Version 1.4), the critical care database developed by MIT. The qSOFA (sepsis-3) and SIRS (sepsis-2) parameters were analyzed for patients admitted to critical care units from 2001 to 2012 in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA, USA) to determine the prevalence and underlying relation between these parameters among patients undergoing sepsis screening. We adopted a multiblind Delphi method to seek a rationale for decisions in several stages of the research design regarding handling missing data and outlier values, statistical imputations and biases, and generalizability of the study. Results Altered mental status in the Glasgow Coma Scale (59.28%, 38,854/65,545 observations) was the most prevalent sepsis-3 (qSOFA) criterion and the white blood cell count (53.12%, 17,163/32,311 observations) was the most prevalent sepsis-2 (SIRS) criterion confronted in the ICU. In addition, the two-factored sepsis criterion of high respiratory rate (≥22 breaths/minute) and altered mental status (28.19%, among four possible qSOFA scenarios besides no sepsis) was the most prevalent sepsis-3 (qSOFA) scenario, and the three-factored sepsis criterion of tachypnea, high heart rate, and high white blood cell count (12.32%, among 11 possible scenarios besides no sepsis) was the most prevalent sepsis-2 (SIRS) scenario in the ICU. Moreover, the absolute Pearson correlation coefficients were not significant, thereby nullifying the likelihood of any linear correlation among the critical parameters and assuring the lack of multicollinearity between the parameters. Although this further bolsters evidence for their dichotomy, the absence of multicollinearity cannot guarantee that two random variables are statistically independent. Conclusions Quantifying the prevalence of the qSOFA criteria of sepsis-3 in comparison with the SIRS criteria of sepsis-2, and understanding the underlying dichotomy among these parameters provides significant inferences for sepsis treatment initiatives in the ICU and informing hospital resource allocation. These data-driven results further offer design implications for multiparameter intelligent sepsis prediction in the ICU.

A scoping review of machine learning for sepsis prediction- feature engineering strategies and model performance: a step towards explainability

“…5 School of Biotechnology and Applied Sciences, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Solan 173229, India. 6 Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College of London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK. 7 Department of Emergency, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 106, Taiwan.…”

“…Despite these advancements, traditional sepsis prediction methodologies, including the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), and quick SOFA (qSOFA), exhibit significant limitations[ 6 ]. These methods often rely heavily on clinical judgment and are subject to variability in interpretation across different levels of clinical expertise, which can lead to inconsistencies in early sepsis detection.…”

“…These methods often rely heavily on clinical judgment and are subject to variability in interpretation across different levels of clinical expertise, which can lead to inconsistencies in early sepsis detection. Moreover, traditional approaches tend to identify sepsis at a more advanced stage, missing the crucial window for early intervention [ 6 , 7 ]. Conversely, ML models offer a dynamic and continuous analysis of real-time patient data, enabling early detection and providing dynamic risk assessments.…”