Accuracy of Lung Ultrasound in Patients with Acute Dyspnea: The Influence of Age, Multimorbidity and Cognitive and Motor Impairment

Abstract

Discriminating between causes of dyspnea may be difficult, particularly in the elderly. The aim of this retrospective study of 83 inpatients with acute dyspnea was to assess the influence of age, multimorbidity and cognitive or motor impairment on the diagnostic accuracy of lung ultrasound (LUS) in discriminating acute heart failure (AHF) from noncardiogenic dyspnea (NCD). Univariate analysis indicates that LUS misdiagnosis was associated with the following parameters: history of stroke (p = 0.037), lower activity of daily living (p = 0.039), higher modified-Rankin scale (mRS) (p = 0.027) and need of two operators to complete LUS because of reduced patient compliance (p = 0.030). Regression analysis identified only history of stroke (p = 0.048) as an independent predictor of LUS misdiagnosis. This study supports LUS usefulness to differentiate AHF from NCD. Our data suggest that diagnostic accuracy of LUS is affected by history of stroke as a proxy for severe motor impairment but not by age, cognitive impairment and multimorbidity.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; Disability; Dyspnea; Elderly patients; Lung ultrasound; Multimorbidity.