Use of the APACHE IV score as a predictor of mortality and length of stay in an intensive care unit

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The assessment of the risk of death and the estimated length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) is a relevant clinical practice to predict the severity of the disease and to outline effective strategies for patient improvement and hospital quality indicators. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability of the APACHE IV score as a predictor of mortality and length of stay in a ICU in the southern state of Tocantins. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This is a descriptive and qualitative research conducted in the medical records of patients hospitalized in a suppressed ICU. Information was collected from the medical records and the APACHE IV score was applied to patients hospitalized in the ICU of the SUPRIMIDO from October 24 to November 26, 2018. Patients with hospitalization less than 24 hours who did not undergo all necessary examinations were excluded. for APACHE IV, who were transferred from the sector or who were not discharged or died at the end of this survey. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationship between the APACHE-IV score and ICU length of stay and to verify the accuracy of APACHE-IV for mortality, to the Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve with an assignment of ' good '> 0.80. RESULTS: The APACHE IV score was applied to ten patients, which overestimated the length of stay of ICU patients, with p <0.001 and overall mortality, with an absolute difference of 20%. (p = 0.447). CONCLUSION: Based on this study, APACHE IV did not show reliability for predicting mortality and length of stay, but the insufficient sample may have contributed to this conclusion.