Scand J Trauma Resus
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Oct 2023
Multicenter Study Observational StudyAge in addition to RETTS triage priority substantially improves 3-day mortality prediction in emergency department patients: a multi-center cohort study.
Previous studies have shown varying results on the validity of the rapid emergency triage and treatment system (RETTS), but have concluded that patient age is not adequately considered as a risk factor for short term mortality. Little is known about the RETTS system's performance between different chief complaints and on short term mortality. We therefore aimed to evaluate how well a model including both RETTS triage priority and patient age (TP and age model) predicts 3-day mortality compared to a univariate RETTS triage priority model (TP model). Secondarily, we aimed to evaluate the TP model compared to a univariate age model (age model) and whether these three models' predictive performance regarding 3-day mortality varies between patients with different chief complaints in an unsorted emergency department patient population. ⋯ Adding patient age to the RETTS triage priority system significantly and substantially improves 3-day mortality prediction compared to RETTS priority alone. Age alone is a non-inferior predictor of 3-day mortality compared to RETTS priority. The impact on 3-day mortality prediction of adding patient age to RETTS priority varies between CCCs but is substantial for all CCCs and for the total population. Including age as a variable in future revisions of RETTS could substantially improve patient safety.