Higher In-Hospital Mortality in Patients with Nonspecific Complaints Presenting to the Emergency Department
Wachelder, J.; Stassen, P.M.; Fourmanov, R.S.; Nickel, C.H.; Haak, H.R.
Acute Medicine 18(4): 232-238
2019
ISSN/ISBN: 1747-4884 PMID: 31912054 Document Number: 18011
Nonspecific complaints (NSC) at the Emergency Department (ED) are not well researched yet. To investigate the number of patients who could be classified as having NSC early after arrival in the ED using an algorithm. Retrospective cohort study was conducted among all hemodynamically stable non-trauma adult patients with MTS category orange/yellow visiting the ED. Patients who had no specific complaints/signs, predefined on a list, were categorized as NSC. In total, 2419 patients, of whom 102 (4.2%) presented with NSC. Hospitalization was more prevalent (85.3% vs. 69.0%, p<0.001) and in-hospital mortality was higher in the NSC-group (11.8% vs. 3.5%, adjusted OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.0-3.9, p=0.04). Using an algorithm it is possible to identify NSC patients who have (worse) outcomes than those classified as SC.
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