Performance of the quick SOFA in very old ICU patients admitted with sepsis

BACKGROUND

The number of very elderly ICU patients (abbreviated to VOPs; ≥80 years) with sepsis increases. Sepsis was redefined in 2016 (sepsis 3.0) using the quick SOFA (qSOFA) score. Since then, multiple studies have validated qSOFA for prognostication in different patient categories, but the prognostic value in VOPs with sepsis is still unknown.

METHODS

Retrospective cohort study including patients admitted to Dutch ICUs with sepsis, in the period 2012 to 2016, evaluating the outcome and the performance of qSOFA, an extended qSOFA model, SOFA, SAPS II, and APACHE IV for hospital mortality.

RESULTS

5969 patients were included, of which 935 VOPs. Crude hospital mortality rates were 19%, 28%, and 39% for patients aged 18-65, 65-80, and ≥80 years respectively. Discriminative performance of qSOFA for in-hospital mortality in VOPs was poor (AUC 0.596) and lower than that of SOFA, APACHE IV, and SAPS II (0.704, 0.722, and 0.780 respectively). A qSOFA model extended with several other characteristics (AUC 0.643) was non-inferior to the full SOFA, but still inferior to APACHE IV and SAPS II, for all age groups. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test showed non-significant p-values for all models. Accuracy for both qSOFA and the extended qSOFA was lower compared to APACHE IV and SAPS II (Brier scores 0.227, 0.223, 0.184, and 0.183 respectively).

CONCLUSION

The qSOFA showed worse discriminative performance to predict mortality than SOFA, APACHE IV, and SAPS II in both VOPs and younger patients admitted with sepsis.

Changes in soft tissue profile following treatment with the bionator

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in the soft tissue profile in patients treated in the mixed dentition with a bionator. Two groups of 30 individuals, between 9 and 12 years old and with Class II, Division 1, malocclusion were matched for age, sex, observation time, and dentofacial characteristics. Patients in the first group were treated with a bionator for an average of 18.7 months, resulting in a Class I molar relationship and reduction of overjet. The second group acted as a control and individuals did not receive any form of orthodontic treatment. Pretreatment and posttreatment cephalograms were analyzed and paired t-tests were used to compare the significance of changes between the two groups. Compared with the control group, the treated group demonstrated 1.97 degrees decrease in ANB, a 3.35 mm increase in anterior facial height, 2.22 degrees decrease in soft tissue profile convexity, and 17.4 degrees increase in mentolabial angle.

Reliability of the Bolton tooth-size analysis when applied to crowded dentitions

The Bolton tooth-size analysis is widely taught and used in orthodontics. However, its reliability has not been documented. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability of the analysis when performed with needle-pointed dividers and a Boley gauge. Four clinicians measured the teeth on 15 sets of casts with two instruments at two sessions. The measurements were used to calculate tooth-size excess. To evaluate the measurement error, the difference between the two analyses made by the same investigator on the same set of casts was calculated. More of the same-investigator analyses were significantly correlated when the Boley gauge was used than when the needle-pointed dividers were used. Between-investigator analyses revealed significant correlations for each measurement session with both instruments. Every investigator was found to have at least one measurement error for each analysis and with each instrument that was as large as a clinically significant result of a Bolton analysis. The results of this study demonstrate that clinically significant measurement errors can occur when the Bolton tooth-size analysis is performed on casts with at least 3 mm of crowding. The Boley gauge demonstrated a higher frequency of significantly correlated repeated measures and thus may be somewhat more reliable for this analysis than the needle-pointed dividers.