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PubMed1995

[Comparison of APACHE-II AND APACHE-III for classification of disease severity of intensive care patients].

The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation model (APACHE II, APACHE III) is used to describe the severity of illness and predict the outcome in critically ill patients. APACHE III, introduced in 1991, has not yet been validated in Europe. We calculated APACHE II and APACHE III scores in patients after admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and compared the prognostic value on hospital mortality. METHOD. One hundred fifty patients with stay of over 24 h were enrolled in the study and prospectively and consecutively investigated. APACHE II and III scores were calculated as described by the authors. The mean and median values of the survivors were compared with the non-surviving group (Mann-Whitney U test). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC analysis) and the areas under the ROC curves were plotted. RESULTS. Of the 150 patients, 34 died during their hospital stay (22.7%). The mean and median APACHE II and III scores were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the non-surviving group. The area under the ROC curve was higher for APACHE III (0.899) compared to APACHE II (0.847). CONCLUSIONS. APACHE II and APACHE III were both found to have good prognostic value in general ICU patients. Our results suggest that the APACHE III version includes a more precise prediction of hospital mortality than APACHE II. A new aspect of APACHE III is an expanded modification of the Glasgow Coma Scale to assess neurologic derangements.

APACHE↗

PubMed2001

[Prognostic evaluation of results after intensive therapy based on APACHE III in surgical and non-surgical patients].

The objective of the presented studies was the assessment of survival and death prediction by APACHE III system in surgical and non-surgical patients treated in an intensive therapy unit. The investigated group included 410 patients examined by the APACHE III during the first 24 hours after admission to the multiprofile ITU in the years 1995-1997. The APACHE III system was used on the basis of an agreement with the APACHE Medical System INC. The clinical value of the applied system was assessed by the statistics of logistic regression. In the group of 410 ITU patients, 263 (64.1%) survived and 147 (35.9%) died. The death rate in the surgical group was 27.3%. The major non-surgical group (333--81.2%) showed a death rate of 37.8%. The precision of predictions on the basis of APACHE III was 75.9% with the assumption that the probability of death risk in each patient was 0.5 and more. For the whole studied group system showed an area under ROC equal to 0.830 in 95% of the confidence interval. In the group of surgical patients, the APACHE III system showed a goodness of fit on the basis of Hosmer's and Lemenshow's test and the highest total percentage (81.8%) of correct classification and high value of the ROC = 0.868. The APACHE III system is a good and correct outcome prediction tool for adult patients in a multiprofile ITU. The comparison of the surgical and non-surgical groups of patients showed a better agreement and correctness of the intensive therapy outcomes predictions in the surgical group.

APACHE↗

PubMed2005

[Comparing the performance of three severity scoring systems for ICU patients: APACHE III, SAPS II, MPM II].

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the predictive validity of three scoring systems; the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation(APACHE) III, simplified acute physiology score(SAPS) II, and mortality probability model (MPM) II systems in critically ill patients. METHODS: A concurrent and retrospective study conducted by collecting data on consecutive patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) including surgical, medical and coronary care unit between January 1, 2004, and March 31, 2004. Data were collected on 348 patients consecutively admitted to the ICU (aged 16 years or older, no transfer, ICU stay at least 8 hours). Three models were analyzed using logistic regression. Discrimination was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, sensitivity, specificity, and correct classification rate. Calibration was assessed using the Lemeshow-Hosmer goodness of fit H-statistic. RESULTS: For the APACHE III, SAPS II and MPM II systems, the area under the receiver operating characterist ic(ROC) curves were 0.981, 0.978, and 0.941 respectively. With a predicted risk of 0.5, the sensitivities for the APACHE III, SAPS II, and MPM II systems were 81.1, 79.2 and 71.7%, the specificities 98.3, 98.6, and 98.3%, and the correct classification rates 95.7, 95.7, and 94.3%, respectively. The SAPS II and APACHE III systems showed good calibrations(chi-squared H=2.5838 p=0.9577 for SAPS II, and chi-squared H=4.3761 p=0.8217 for APACHE III). CONCLUSIONS: The APACHE III and SAPS II systems have excellent powers of mortality prediction, and calibration, and can be useful tools for the quality assessment of intensive care units (ICUs).

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1999

[Intensive care medicine for elderly patients: how applicable are the APACHE III and III score systems?].

OBJECTIVE: Scores like APACHE (Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation) were evaluated for unselected intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Can they also be used for risk stratification and quality assurance in selected subgroups like elderly patients? METHODS: Over a 3-year period data of all admissions of a 12 bed interdisciplinary ICU were collected. APACHE II and III scores and probabilities of hospital deaths were compared with observed outcomes. The discriminatory power was evaluated by calculating the areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Calibration was analyzed with standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistic. RESULTS: Of 3382 admissions due to exclusion criteria, 2795 patients were analyzed, 1396 (49.9%) of these were > or = 65 years, mean age 75 (65-99) years. 62.5% were non-operative, 37.5% postoperative admissions, 35% after emergency operations. ICU mortality was 11.7%, hospital mortality 25.1%. The areas under the ROC curves were 0.77 for APACHE II and 0.79 for APACHE III (whole collective 0.83 and 0.85, respectively). The SMR was 1.17 for APACHE II and 1.23 for APACHE III compared with 1.06 and 1.22 for all patients, respectively. Calibration for elderly patients was insufficient for APACHE II (Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-square = 19, p < 0.025) as well as for APACHE III (chi-square = 41, p < 0.001), while it was good for all patients for APACHE II (chi-square = 12, p > 0.1) but not so for APACHE III (chi-square = 48, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: APACHE II and III both show good discrimination for elderly patients although a little inferior than for all patients. Both scores can be used for risk stratification of elderly ICU patients. Mortality prognosis is not sufficient for geriatric patients although APACHE II calibrates well for all. Application of these scores for quality assurance in selected subgroups like elderly patients cannot be recommended based on these data.

APACHE↗

PubMed2004

Are IL-6, IL-10 and PCT plasma concentrations reliable for outcome prediction in severe sepsis? A comparison with APACHE III and SAPS II.

OBJECTIVE: Prospective examination whether changes in interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10 or procalcitonin (PCT) concentrations correlate with poor outcome in patients with severe sepsis in comparison with APACHE III or SAPS II. METHODS: 33 patients who fulfilled the criteria for severe sepsis have been included in the study. Blood samples were collected for cytokine and PCT determinations. The Acute Physiology, Age and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score and the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II were calculated for 3 consecutive days. RESULTS: 14 out of 33 patients died of multiple organ failure. The areas under the ROC-curves for APACHE III and SAPS II indicated a poor discrimination between survivors and non-survivors. Plasma PCT and IL-10 concentrations were higher in non-survivors than in survivors. IL-6 levels showed no differences between groups. The multivariate analysis of the APACHE III, SAPS II, IL-10 and PCT data showed a significant relationship between APACHE III, PCT plasma levels and outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that non-surviving patients have higher PCT and IL-10 values. Only APACHE III score and PCT plasma levels correlated with a poor outcome. Therefore, routine measurements of plasma PCT concentrations might be helpful to improve the mortality risk prediction in patients with severe sepsis.

APACHE↗

PubMed1998

Predicting hospital mortality in cirrhotic patients: comparison of Child-Pugh and Acute Physiology, Age and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE III) scoring systems.

OBJECTIVE: The severity of hepatic abnormalities and extent of dysfunction of other organ systems influences prognosis for cirrhosis. The Child-Pugh system has been used to classify cirrhotic patients into good, intermediate, or poor risk categories in evaluation and therapy. Disregard for cardiorespiratory, renal, electrolyte balance, and acid base status limits its predictive accuracy. We evaluated the accuracy of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE III) to predict short term hospital mortality in patients with liver cirrhosis. METHODS: A total of 282 patients were prospectively enrolled. Child-Pugh and APACHE III scores were recorded on day 1 for each patient. RESULTS: Mean age was 51.7+/-11.3 yr, with 65% men and 35% women; 57% presented with upper GI bleeding, 47% encephalopathy, 9% hepatorenal syndrome, and 7% hepatocellular carcinoma. Sixty-three patients (22%) died. Major causes of death were upper GI bleeding 38%, liver failure 21%, hepatorenal syndrome 19%, hepatocellular carcinoma 4%, and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis 6%. Child-Pugh and APACHE III scores for survivors (8.6+/-2.3 and 58.9+/-35.1) were lower than those for nonsurvivors (10.9+/-2.7 and 87.4+/-30.3) (p < 0.001). Using discriminant analysis, APACHE III correctly identified 75% of cases vs 67% of cases for Child-Pugh (p < 0.05). When information regarding ascites and prothrombin time was added to APACHE III, 81% of cases were correctly classified. CONCLUSION: The APACHE III scoring system is superior to Child-Pugh for prognosticating short term survival of cirrhotic patients. Prognostic accuracy of APACHE III can be enhanced by incorporating information regarding ascites and prothrombin time prolongation.

APACHE↗

PubMed2003

Predictive accuracy of severity scoring system: a prospective cohort study using APACHE III in a Korean intensive care unit.

AIM: To evaluate the discrimination, calibration, and uniformity of fit by age group, operative status, and location before ICU admission of APACHE III in a single-center ICU population. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective data collection in a 25 bed mixed (surgical and medical) ICU of 850-bed teaching hospital in Pusan, South Korea. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The worst values on APACHE III variables during 24h following ICU admission were collected from the patient's charts and clinical flow sheets of 284 consecutively admitted subjects. RESULTS: The mortality rate was 31.0%, and showed a strong positive correlation between APACHE III score (r=0.97, p<0.0001 for entire population, r=0.97, p<0.0001 for medical patients, r=0.91, p<0.0001 for surgical patients). Hospital mortality was significantly higher for medical patients than surgical patients (OR=7.23, 95% CI=3.76-13.88), and for patients located in the operating room than at ward before admitting ICU (OR=0.09, 95% CI=0.04-0.23). At the predicted risk of 0.5 (66 of APACHE III score), sensitivity was 0.72, specificity 0.91, and correct classification rate 0.85. Area under the ROC curve was 0.905 (95% CI=0.867-0.943). Correlation coefficient (r) between observed and expected mortality rate was 0.99. The value (chi-square) of Lemeshow-Hosmer (L-H) goodness-of-fit statistic was 6.54 (p=0.59). In patients stratified according to age groups, operative status, and location in the hospital before ICU admission, discrimination was generally good in all subgroups (area under the ROC curve >0.85), and the chi-squared of L-H goodness-of -fit statistic showed a good fit for all subgroup, especially for operative status. CONCLUSIONS: The predictive accuracy of the APACHE III scoring system showed better discrimination, as well as uniformity of fit. So, it was thought that could be utilized for the subject hospital.

APACHE↗

PubMed1991

APACHE III study: a summary.

This paper summarizes the APACHE III Study now being performed by the ICU Research Unit at the George Washington University Medical Center. It presents a review of the material included in a recent detailed description of the APACHE III Study and introduces new work being developed with data from Brazilian hospitals.

Brazil↗

PubMed2001

Comparison of the APACHE II and APACHE III scoring systems in patients with respiratory failure in a medical intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This retrospective study compared the capability of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and APACHE III scoring systems to predict outcome and determined the independent predictors of survival in these scoring systems for patients with respiratory failure in a medical intensive care unit (ICU). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven hundred and eight patients with respiratory failure admitted to the medical ICU throughout a 9-year period were studied. Patients with an ICU stay of less than 24 hours, patients under 12 years of age, and burn and surgery patients were excluded. APACHE scores were calculated at 24 hours after admission. Student's t-test was used to compare the total APACHE scores of survivor and non-survivor groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine which variables were predictors of mortality. The discriminative power of APACHE scores to predict in-hospital mortality was studied by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of the APACHE II and APACHE III systems, respectively. RESULTS: Both systems showed a significant association between higher scores and higher mortality. The APACHE II system under-predicted the actual hospital mortality rate. The APACHE III systems had a higher discriminative power (area 0.7462) than the APACHE II systems (area 0.6856; p < 0.05). The independent predictors of survival as assessed by APACHE II and III systems were respiratory rate, arterial oxygen pressure, oxygen gradient between alveoli and artery, serum creatinine concentration, and the presence of neurologic abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: The APACHE III systems has greater discriminative power than the APACHE II systems for predicting in-hospital mortality. The variables of oxygenation, mean artery pressure, respiratory rate, serum creatinine concentration, and Glasgow Coma Scale play important roles in predicting survival for patients with respiratory failure.

APACHE↗

PubMed2004

Predictive comparisons of procalcitonin (PCT) level, arterial ketone body ratio (AKBR), APACHE III score and multiple organ dysfunction score (MODS) in systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS).

Procalcitonin (PCT) is a newly introduced marker of systemic inflammation and bacterial infection. A marked increase in circulating PCT level in critically ill patients has been related with the severity of illness and poor survival. The goal of this study was to compare the prognostic power of PCT and three other parameters, the arterial ketone body ratio (AKBR), the acute physiology, age, chronic health evaluation (APACHE) III score and the multiple organ dysfunction score (MODS), in the differentiation between survivors and nonsurvivors of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). The study was performed in 95 patients over 16 years of age who met the criteria of SIRS. PCT and AKBR were assayed in arterial blood samples. The APACHE III score and MODS were recorded after the first 24 hours of surgical ICU (SICU) admission and then daily for two weeks or until either discharge or death. The patients were divided into two groups, survivors (n=71) and nonsurvivors (n=24), in accordance with the ICU outcome. They were also divided into three groups according to the trend of PCT level: declining, increasing or no change. Significant differences between survivors and nonsurvivors were found in APACHE III score and MODS throughout the study period, but in PCT value only up to the 7th day and in AKBR only up to the 3rd day. PCT values of the three groups were not significantly different on the first day between survivors and nonsurvivors. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for prediction of mortality by PCT, AKBR, APACHE III score and MODS were 0.690, 0.320, 0.915 and 0.913, respectively, on the admission day. In conclusion, PCT could have some use as a mortality predictor in SIRS patients but was less reliable than APACHE III score or MODS.

APACHE↗

PubMed2002

The impact of low-risk intensive care unit admissions on mortality probabilities by SAPS II, APACHE II and APACHE III.

A large proportion of intensive care unit patients are low-risk admissions. Mortality probabilities generated by predictive systems may not accurately reflect the mortality experienced by subpopulations of critically ill patients. We prospectively assessed the impact of low-risk admissions (mortality risk < 10%) on the mortality estimates generated by three prognostic models. We studied 1497 consecutive admissions to a general intensive care unit. The performance of the three models for subgroups and the whole population was analysed. The proportions of patients designated as low risk varied with the model and differences in model performance were most pronounced for these patients. The APACHE II mortality ratios (1.32 vs. 1.19) did not differ for low- and higher risk patients, but mortality ratios generated by APACHE III (2.38 vs. 1.23) and SAPS II (2.19 vs. 1.16) were nearly two-fold greater. Calibration for higher risk patients was similar for all three models but the APACHE III system calibrated worse than the other models for low-risk patients. This may have contributed to the poorer overall calibration of the APACHE III system (Hosmer-Lemeshow C-test: APACHE III chi(2) = 329; APACHE II chi(2) = 42; SAPS II chi(2) = 62). Imperfect characterisation of the large proportion of low-risk intensive care unit admissions may contribute to the deterioration of the models' predictive accuracies for the intensive care population as a whole.

APACHE↗

PubMed1998

The Apache III prognostic system: customized mortality predictions for Spanish ICU patients.

OBJECTIVE: To customize the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III mortality equation for Spanish admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) and evaluate its discrimination and calibration. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter inception cohort study. SETTING: 86 ICUs located in all regions of Spain. PATIENTS: 10,929 adult patients selected by a systematic sampling method. All types of critical care patients were included, including coronary bypass patients, but excluding those with burn injury, those admitted for pacemaker implants, patients under 16 years of age, and patients with length of ICU stay < 6 h. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Data collection in the first 24 h after patient admission included: APACHE III score, treatment location prior to ICU admission, and main ICU admission diagnosis. Using these variables, a model for predicting hospital mortality was constructed, adapted to Spain, and its discriminating ability was assessed by the area below the ROC curve, which was 0.83. The model was validated using the jacknife method and the area below the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the cross-validated predictions was 0.82. The percentage of patients correctly classified at 0.50 risk of death was 82.3%. Model calibration was evaluated by analysis of the agreement between the observed and cross-validated predicted mortality using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, which gave a value of (H) 12.27, with no statistical significance, i.e., good calibration. CONCLUSIONS: We have customized the APACHE III mortality prediction system for the Spanish population. This adapted model has demonstrated the requisite validation, calibration, and discrimination for its use among Spanish critical care patients.

APACHE↗

PubMed2002

CT-guided percutaneous drainage of intra-abdominal abscesses: APACHE III score stratification of 1-year results. Acute Physiology, Age, Chronic Health Evaluation.

Our objective was to evaluate the clinical success rates of percutaneously drained intra-abdominal abscesses using a risk stratification score for severely ill patients (APACHE III; Acute Physiology, Age, Chronic Health Evaluation). In 75 patients CT-guided percutaneous abscess drainage was performed to treat intra-abdominal abscesses. The clinical success rate based on a 1-year follow-up was correlated with abscess etiology, size, and structure, as well as with the initial APACHE III score. Clinical success, i.e., the complete removal of the abscess without surgical treatment, was observed in 62 of 75 patients (83%). Abscess size (<200 cm(3)) and abscesses with a simple structure correlated with higher clinical success rates. Patients presenting with APACHE III scores below 30 were treated by percutaneous abscess drainages (PAD) alone significantly more often than patients presenting with higher APACHE scores. The percutaneous drainage of intra-abdominal abscesses shows good long-term results as long as abscesses are singular, small (<200 cm(3)), and located in well accessible regions in combination with low APACHE scores (<30).

Abdominal Abscess↗

PubMed1995

The use of APACHE III to evaluate ICU length of stay, resource use, and mortality after coronary artery by-pass surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To identify patient characteristics that are associated with increased ICU length of stay, resource use, and hospital mortality after coronary artery bypass surgery. DESIGN: Prospective, multicenter study. SETTING: Six tertiary care hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: A consecutive sample of 2,435 unselected ICU admissions following coronary artery by-pass surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Demographic, operative characteristics and APACHE III score were collected during the first postoperative day; and APACHE III scores and therapeutic interventions during the first three postoperative days. Hospital survival and ICU length of stay were also recorded. Multivariate equations were derived and cross-validated to predict hospital mortality, ICU length of stay, and ICU resource use. RESULTS: Unadjusted hospital mortality rate was 3.9% (range 1.0% to 6.0%), mean ICU length of stay was 3.7 days (range 3.2 to 4.7 days), and first 3-day ICU resource use (TISS points) was 99 (range 68 to 116). The range of actual to predicted ICU length of stay varied from 0.86 to 1.26; and resource use from 0.71 to 1.16. CONCLUSIONS: A limited number of operative characteristics, the post-operative acute physiology score (APS) of APACHE III and patient demographic data can predict hospital death rate, ICU length of stay, and resource use immediately following coronary by-pass surgery. These estimates may compliment assessments based on pre-operative risk factors in order to more precisely evaluate and improve the efficacy and efficiency of cardiovascular surgery.

APACHE↗

PubMed1996

Application of the APACHE III prognostic system in Brazilian intensive care units: a prospective multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare patients and their outcomes at ten Brazilian intensive care units (ICUs) with those reported from the United States. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter inception cohort study. SETTING: Ten Brazilian adult medical-surgical ICUs. PATIENTS: 1734 consecutive adult ICU admissions. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: We used demographic, clinical and physiologic information and the APACHE III prognostic system to predict risk of hospital death for 1734 ICU admissions. We then divided the observed by the predicted hospital death rate to calculate standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for patient groups and each ICU. Hospital mortality for Brazilian patients (34%) was double that found in the United States (17%, p < 0.01). Discrimination of survivors from non-survivors using APACHE III was good (area under a receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.82), but the predicted risk of death was significantly (p < 0.0001) lower than observed outcome (SMR = 1.67). Three of the ten Brazilian ICUs, however, had SMRs of 1.01 to 1.1 and no significant difference between observed and predicted outcomes; the remaining seven ICUs had significantly higher SMRs, ranging from 1.50 to 2.30. CONCLUSION: The APACHE III prognostic system was a good discriminator of hospital mortality for ICU admissions at 10 Brazilian ICUs. There was substantial and significant variation, however, in SMRs among the Brazilian ICUs, which suggests that further evaluations of international differences in intensive care using a common risk assessment system should be performed and factors associated with variations in risk-adjusted mortality scrutinized.

APACHE↗

PubMed1995

Comparison of APACHE III, II and the Glasgow Coma Scale for prediction of mortality in a neurosurgical intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the efficacy of predicting power for hospital mortality of three different scoring systems in a neurosurgical intensive care unit (NICU). SETTING: An eight-bed NICU in a 1,270-bed medical centre (Taichung Veterans General Hospital). SUBJECTS: Two hundred patients with head injury, brain tumour, hypertensive intracerebral haemorrhage, rupture of aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation, or other categories were included in our study in a consecutive period of 14 months. Patients less than 14 years old were not included. DESIGN: On the first day of admission, data were collected from each patient to compute the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health (APACHE) II and III, and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores. Hospital mortality was defined as when death occurred before discharge from hospital. INTERVENTIONS: none. MEASUREMENTS: Sensitivity, specificity and correct prediction outcomes were measured by logistic regression in three scoring systems. The Youden index was also obtained. The best cutoff point in each scoring system was determined by logistic regression or by the Youden index. Data obtained by logistic regression were compared by McNemar's test. The differences in Youden index were calculated by the Student's t-test. The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was computed and the area of each scoring system was then compared by the Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test. MAIN RESULTS: The correct prediction of outcome was 85.5% in APACHE III, 77.5% in APACHE II and 75.0% in GCS. The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.892 in APACHE III, 0.826 in APACHE II and 0.868 in GCS. For the prediction of dead patients at the best cutoff point, APACHE III and GCS were better than APACHE II, (both p < 0.01 respectively). For the prediction of alive patients at the best cutoff point, APACHE III was better than GCS and APACHE II (p < 0.01 respectively). CONCLUSION: The APACHE III system seems to be the most reliable. The results reveal that the APACHE III system is better in predicting power for hospital mortality than either the GCS or APACHE II systems in our NICU patients.

APACHE↗

PubMed2000

Performance of APACHE III models in an Australian ICU.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the performance of the APACHE (acute physiology and chronic health evaluation) III ICU and hospital mortality models at an Australian tertiary adult ICU. DESIGN: Noninterventional, observational study. SETTING: Metropolitan, Australian, tertiary referral medical/surgical ICU. PATIENTS: A total of 3,398 consecutive eligible admissions from January 1, 1995, to December 31, 1997. MEASUREMENTS: Prospective collection of demographic, diagnostic, physiologic, laboratory, admission, and discharge data. RESULTS: The patient sample was younger and more commonly male, with more comorbidities and a different operative and referral source mix, compared to the APACHE III development sample. Receiver operating characteristic curve areas for ICU (0.92) and hospital mortality (0.90) demonstrated excellent discrimination. Observed ICU mortality (9.9%) did not significantly differ from the prediction of the APACHE III model (8.9%) or the APACHE III model adjusted for hospital characteristics (10.5%). The hospital mortality (16.0%) was underestimated by the APACHE III model [13.6%; chi(2)(1) = 7.4; p = 0.01]. With proprietary adjustments for hospital characteristics (14.9%) or referenced to the US database (15.6%), agreement was closer. Good calibration was found with all models except the unadjusted hospital mortality model. CONCLUSION: In contrast to other non-American studies, this Australian study demonstrates that the APACHE III can perform well on independent assessment. As perfect discrimination and calibration cannot coexist in a probabilistic model with dichotomous outcomes, performance of APACHE III models with proprietary adjustment for hospital characteristic provide a good compromise for use in quality surveillance.

APACHE↗

PubMed1996

Correlation between Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score and immunological parameters in critically ill patients with sepsis.

A relationship between physiological parameters of severe sepsis and immunological function has not been established. In ten severely ill patients with sepsis physiological risk was assessed by the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score, while one component of immunological function was evaluated using peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cytokine production after stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro. Five of the ten patients died. Mean (s.e.m.) APACHE III scores at admission were not significantly different between survivors and non-survivors (82(13) versus 95(13)) but after 72 h they were lower in survivors (51(13) versus 111(15), P < 0.05). Downregulation of cytokine production by PBMC on LPS stimulation was a transient event in survivors. Survivors had a three-fold increase in tumour necrosis factor alpha bioactivity within 72 h, but there was no increase in non-survivors. A similar pattern was demonstrated for interleukin (IL) 1 beta (P < 0.05 between survivors and non-survivors) and IL-6 (P = 0.06) immunoactivity. Physiological as well as immunological parameters in critically ill patients with sepsis independently predicted hospital survival (r2 = 0.2). These data demonstrate a relationship between the pattern of cytokine production in vitro and survival.

APACHE↗