The arrival ward requiring help by wheelchair or medical cart, arterial oxygenation index, age, albumin and neutrophil count score: Predicting in-hospital mortality in Chinese patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: In this study, we will derive and validate a prognostic tool to predict in-hospital death based on Chinese acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients.

Methods: Independent predictors of in-hospital death were identified by logistic regression analysis and incorporated into a clinical prediction tool.

Results: The clinical prediction model was developed with data from 1121 patients and validated with data from 245 patients. The five predictors of in-hospital death from the development cohort (Arrival ward requiring help by wheelchair or medical cart, Arterial oxygenation index, Age, Albumin and Neutrophil count) were combined to form the AAAAN Score. The AAAAN Score achieved good discrimination (AUC = 0.85, 95% CI 0.81-0.89) and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-square value was 3.33, p = 0.65). The AAAAN Score, which underwent internal bootstrap validation, also showed excellent discrimination for mortality (AUC = 0.85, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.89) and performed more strongly than other clinical prediction tools. Patients were categorized into 3 risk groups based on the scores: low risk (0-2 points, 0.7% in-hospital mortality), intermediate risk (3-4 points, 4.1% in-hospital mortality), and high risk (5-7 points, 23.4% in-hospital mortality). Predictive performance was confirmed by external validation.

Conclusions: The AAAAN Score is a prognostic tool to predict in-hospital death in Chinese AECOPD patients.