• Martin Spångfors, Gitte Bunkenborg, Mats Molt, and Karin Samuelson.
• Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
• J Clin Nurs. 2019 Apr 1; 28 (7-8): 1216-1222.

Aims And ObjectivesTo evaluate whether the scale used for assessment of hospital ward patients could predict in-hospital and 30-day mortality amongst those with deviating vital signs; that is, that patients classified as medium or high risk would have increased risk of in-hospital and 30-day mortality compared to patients with low risk.BackgroundThe National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is a widely adopted scale for assessing deviating vital signs. A clinical risk scale that comes with the NEWS divides the risk for critical illness into three risk categories, low, medium and high.DesignRetrospective analysis of vital sign data.MethodsLogistic regression models for age-adjusted in-hospital and 30-day mortality were used for analyses of 1,107 patients with deviating vital signs.ResultsPatients classified as medium or high risk by NEWS experienced a 2.11 or 3.40 increase, respectively, in odds of in-hospital death (95% CI: 1.27-3.51, p = 0.004% and 95% CI: 1.90-6.01, p < 0.001) compared to low-risk patients. Moreover, those with NEWS medium or high risk were associated with a 1.98 or 3.19 increase, respectively, in odds of 30-day mortality (95% CI: 1.32-2.97, p = 0.001% and 95% CI: 1.97-5.18, p < 0.001).ConclusionThe NEWS risk classification seems to be a reliable predictor of mortality on patients in hospital wards.Relevance To Clinical PracticeThe NEWS risk classification offers a simple way to identify deteriorating patients and can aid the healthcare staff to prioritise amongst patients.© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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