Background: Scoring systems in critical care patients are essential for prediction of outcome and for evaluation of therapy. In this study we determined the value of the APACHE II, APACHE III, Elebute-Stoner, SOFA, and SAPS II scoring systems in the prediction of mortality in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) complicating acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
Material and methods: In this prospective, observational study, patients who were admitted to the ICU with CS complicating AMI were consecutively included. Data for the APACHE II, APACHE III, Elebute-Stoner, SOFA, and SAPS II scores were recorded on admission and during the following 96 h. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to estimate the predictive ability (mortality) of the scoring systems on admission and the maximum value.
Results: Mortality among the 41 patients included in this study was 44 %. On admission, the mean APACHE II (p = 0.035), APACHE III (p = 0.003), SAPS II (p = 0.001), and SOFA (p = 0.042) scores were significantly higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors. At maximum score, APACHE II (p = 0.009), APACHE III (p < 0.001), and SAPS II (p < 0.001) appeared to have higher significance. On admission, the discrimination for APACHE III was 0.786, for SAPS II 0.790, and for APACHE II 0.691. The maximum-score AUC for APACHE II was 0.726, for APACHE III 0.827, and for SAPS II 0.832. Elebute-Stoner and SOFA did not yield valuable results at maximum score or, in the case of Elebute-Stoner, on admission.
Conclusion: These results suggest that at the time of diagnosis and at maximum value, the SAPS II, APACHE III, and APACHE II scores may be useful in predicting a high probability of survival of patients with CS complicating AMI.