Validation of the phoenix sepsis score in the pediatric emergency department

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the discriminative performance of the Phoenix sepsis score (PSS) and compare its performance with the 2005 International Pediatric Sepsis Consensus Conference (IPSCC) criteria in predicting in-hospital mortality and bloodstream infection (BSI) among pediatric patients with suspected sepsis presenting to the emergency department (ED).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on pediatric patients (< 0.001), 28-day (p < 0.001), overall mortality (p = 0.001), and BSI (p = 0.032). At a threshold of PSS ≥ 2, it outperformed the IPSCC criteria in specificity (0.94 vs. 0.48 for 3-day; 0.95 vs. 0.48 for 28-day and overall mortality; 0.95 vs. 0.49 for BSI) and diagnostic accuracy (0.94 vs. 0.48 for 3-day, 28-day, and overall mortality; 0.93 vs. 0.49 for BSI), all p < 0.001.

Conclusions: The PSS outperformed the IPSCC criteria in predicting in-hospital mortality among children with suspected sepsis presenting to the ED, and may serve as a feasible prognostic tool.

Keywords: Emergency medicine; Infections; Mortality; Organ dysfunction scores; Sepsis; Validation study.