Table 2.
Sensitivity and specificity at different thresholds for qSOFA and SIRS for various clinical outcomes of included patients
| Variable | qSOFA | SIRS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≥1 | ≥2 | ≥3 | ≥1 | ≥2 | ≥3 | ≥4 | |
| In-hospital mortality | |||||||
| Sensitivity, % (95% CI)a | 100 (88–100) | 90 (73–98) | 48 (29–68) | 100 (88–100) | 93 (77–99) | 83 (64–92) | 31 (15–51) |
| Specificity, % (95% CI)a | 7 (3–13) | 42 (33–52) | 86 (79–92) | 0 (0–3) | 12 (7–19) | 37 (28–46) | 76 (67–83) |
| ICU-free daysb | |||||||
| Sensitivity, % (95% CI) | 99 (92–100) | 76 (65–86) | 28 (18–40) | 100 (95–100) | 92 (83–97) | 71 (59–81) | 26 (17–38) |
| Specificity, % (95% CI) | 10 (4–18) | 48 (36–59) | 86 (77–93) | 0 (0–5) | 14 (7–23) | 36 (26–48) | 75 (64–84) |
| Ventilator-free daysb | |||||||
| Sensitivity, % (95% CI) | 99 (93–100) | 74 (62–83) | 29 (19–41) | 100 (95–100) | 93 (85–98) | 72 (60–82) | 29 (19–41) |
| Specificity, % (95% CI) | 10 (4–19) | 45 (34–57) | 88 (78–94) | 0 (0–5) | 15 (8–25) | 38 (27–49) | 78 (67–86) |
| Any organ dysfunction-free daysb | |||||||
| Sensitivity, % (95% CI) | 96 (89–99) | 68 (57–79) | 28 (18–39) | 100 (95–100) | 89 (80–95) | 68 (57–79) | 25 (16–36) |
| Specificity, % (95% CI) | 8 (3–16) | 41 (30–53) | 87 (77–94) | 0 (0–5) | 12 (6–21) | 34 (24–46) | 74 (62–83) |
| Renal dysfunction-free daysb | |||||||
| Sensitivity, % (95% CI) | 95 (87–99) | 70 (58–80) | 26 (17–38) | 100 (95–100) | 88 (79–94) | 68 (57–79) | 26 (17–38) |
| Specificity, % (95% CI) | 7 (2–15) | 42 (31–54) | 86 (76–93) | 0 (0–5) | 11 (5–20) | 34 (24–46) | 75 (64–84) |
Abbreviations: qSOFA quick Sequential (Sepsis-related) Organ Failure Assessment, SIRS Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, ICU intensive care unit, CI confidence intervals
aSensitivity was calculated on the basis of the number of participants who experienced the clinical outcome. Specificity was calculated on the basis of the number of participants who did not experience the clinical outcome
bClinical outcomes other than in-hospital mortality (namely, ICU-free days, ventilator-free days, any organ dysfunction-free days, and renal dysfunction-free days) were considered as categorical variables with the median of the entire cohort serving as the threshold. The median of the entire cohort for ICU-free days, ventilator-free days, any organ dysfunction-free days, and renal dysfunction-free days was 22, 28, 5, and 14 days, respectively. Thus, the sensitivity and specificity for ICU-free days <22, ventilator-free days <28, any organ dysfunction-free days <5, and renal dysfunction-free days <14 were calculated