The qSOFA Score: A Simple and Accurate Predictor of Outcome in Patients with Glyphosate Herbicide Poisoning.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate whether the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score at emergency department (ED) presentation can help improve the risk assessment of glyphosate-surfactant herbicide (GlySH) poisoning complications. A total of 150 patients presenting with acute glyphosate herbicide ingestion were enrolled in this retrospective observational study. The qSOFA scores at presentation, ΔqSOFA (calculated by subtracting the worst qSOFA score from 1 hr after admission from the qSOFA score at presentation), baseline characteristics, clinical courses and outcome were collected and analysed. A total of 41 patients had life-threatening complications (27.3%), and 14 patients died (9.3%). Patients with a qSOFA score of 0 at presentation had a 1.5% incidence rate of complications. As the qSOFA score at presentation increased from 1 to 3, the rate of life-threatening complications significantly increased from 29.6% to 100%. Patients with a ΔqSOFA of 1 had a higher frequency of complications than did patients with a ΔqSOFA of 0. The qSOFA score (OR: 8.39, 95% CI: 3.51-26.67) and ΔqSOFA (OR: 27.60, 95% CI: 3.87-575.67) were associated with the development of life-threatening complications in the multivariate analysis. The qSOFA score showed high sensitivity (97.56%), and the ΔqSOFA score showed high specificity (99.08%). The values of area under the curve were significantly higher in the models using the qSOFA and ΔqSOFA than they were in the models using previously known prognostic factors (p < 0.01). The clinician should pay more attention to patients with high qSOFA scores at presentation or an increase in the qSOFA score 1 hr after admission.