A new mortality score in preterm infants: the vasoactive inotropic score.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive value of the vasoactive inotropic score (VIS) for mortality in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) preterm infants and to compare this value with the well-known Clinical Risk Index for Babies-II (CRIB-II) score.

Methods: This study was designed as a retrospective study. A total of 280 preterm infants weighing under 1000 g who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit over a five-year period were included in the study. For each patient, a CRIB-II score and VIS were calculated, and their ability to predict mortality was compared. To predict and compare the accuracy of the scoring systems, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was used, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated.

Results: In infants who died within the first 28 days after birth, the CRIB-II score (p < 0.001) and VISmax (p < 0.001) were higher compared with those who survived. The AUCs for the CRIB-II score and VIS in predicting mortality were 0.86/0.81, with cut-offs of > 12/ > 5, sensitivities of 79/70, specificities of 82/87, positive predictive values (PPVs) of 81/85, and negative predictive values (NPVs) of 80/75. There were no statistically significant differences between the AUC values of the CRIB-II score and VIS variables (p = 0.160).

Conclusion: The VIS can predict mortality in ELBW preterm infants as accurately as the CRIB-II score can.