Risk stratification and long-term outcome of patients receiving in-hospital medical emergency team critical care: experience from Austria's largest medical center.

BACKGROUND

We aimed to investigate predictors for long-term survival of in-hospital patients with medical emergency team (MET) consultation with or without in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) in Austria's largest medical center.

METHODS

Data of patients, who needed an intervention of a MET between 01/2014 and 03/2020 were reviewed for this retrospective analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 708 MET calls were analyzed. The minimum follow-up was 7 months, the maximum 6.2 years. The main MET indications were circulatory failure (63%) followed by respiratory failure (27.1%), and bleeding events (3.5%). IHCA with subsequent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was experienced by 425 (60%) patients. Of those, 274 (64%) reached return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and 221 (52%) survived the first 24-hours (median survival: 146 days) and 22.1% the first year. After adjustment for potential confounders, age (P<0.001), time to ROSC (P<0.001), a non-shockable rhythm (P=0.041), chronic kidney disease (CKD, P=0.041), peak lactate levels (P<0.001), and C-reactive protein (P=0.001) were associated with long-term all-cause mortality in IHCA patients in Cox regression analysis. The 283 MET calls (40%) which were due to other reasons than IHCA were associated with a much better 24-hours (93%) and 1-year survival (61.8%). Beside age (P<0.001), the main risk factors associated with mortality in MET patients without IHCA were comorbidities such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, P=0.008), CKD (P=0.001), pulmonary hypertension/chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (PH/CTEPH, P=0.024), and cancer (P=0.040).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients triggering MET calls have an increased mortality, especially those with IHCA. Predictors of mortality comprise age, comorbidities, and cardiac arrest-related parameters. A better characterization of MET call populations and their outcome might help to improve clinical decision making.