A lung ultrasound score for early triage of elderly patients with acute dyspnea

Abstract

Objectives Lung ultrasound has value in diagnosing dyspnea. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a modified lung ultrasound (MLUS) score to predict the severity of acute dyspnea in elderly patients.Methods This was an observational single-centre study including patients over age 64 admitted to the emergency department for acute dyspnea with hypoxia. Participants had an early lung ultrasound performed by a dedicated emergency physician, followed by the usual care by a team blinded to the lung ultrasound results. Patients were allocated by disposition to either a critical care (CC) group (patients who needed admission to the intensive care unit [ICU] and/or who died within 48 h) or a standard care group.Results Among 137 patients analysed (mean age 79 ± 13 years, 74 [54%] women), 43 (31%) were categorized into the CC group. The time taken to obtain the MLUS was 30 ± 22 min. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the MLUS for predicting the CC group was 0.97 (0.92-0.99; p < 0.01) with a cut-off set strictly above 17 for 93% sensitivity (81-99), 99% specificity (94-100), a positive predictive value of 98% (87-100), a negative predictive value of 97% (91-99), a positive likelihood ratio of 86, a negative likelihood ratio of 0.07, and a diagnostic accuracy of 97% (93-99). In a multivariate analysis, the MLUS was the only independent associated factor for the CC group.Conclusion An early lung ultrasound score can predict the need for ICU admission and/or death within 48 hours in elderly dyspneic patients.