Validation of age, PaO(2)/FlO(2) and plateau pressure score in Korean patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: A predictive scoring system for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients, which incorporates age, PaO(2)/FlO(2), and plateau pressure, APPS, was developed recently. It was validated externally in a Caucasian population but has not been studied in Asian populations. The aim of this study was to validate APPS in Korean ARDS patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who were diagnosed with ARDS using the Berlin criteria and admitted to the medical ICU at Seoul National University Hospital from January 2015 to December 2016. The validation of the APPS was performed by evaluating its calibration and predictive accuracy. Its calibration was plotted and quantified using the Hosmer–Lemeshow test. Its predictive accuracy was assessed by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUC–ROC) curve. RESULTS: A total of 116 patients were analyzed, 32 of whom survived. Of the 116 patients, 11 (9.5%) were classified as APPS grade 1 (score 3–4), 88 (75.9%) as grade 2 (score 5–7) and 17 (14.6%) as grade 3 (score 8–9). In-hospital mortality was 27.3% for grade 1, 73.9% for grade 2 and 94.1% for grade 3 (P for trend < 0.001). The APPS was well calibrated (Hosmer–Lemeshow test, P = 0.578) and its predictive accuracy was acceptable (AUC–ROC 0.704, 95% confidence interval 0.599–0.809). CONCLUSIONS: The APPS predicted in-hospital mortality in Korean patients with ARDS with similar power to its application in a Western population and with acceptable predictive accuracy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Retrospectively registered.