Shock Index for Early Detection of Low Plasma Fibrinogen in Trauma: A Prospective Observational Cohort Pilot Study

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 12; no. 4; p. 1707
• Main Authors: Škola, Josef, Bílská, Marcela, Horáková, Michala, Tégl, Václav, Beneš, Jan, Škulec, Roman, Černý, Vladimír
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.02.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Blood coagulation tests; Blood pressure; Care and treatment; Coagulation protein disorders; Complications and side effects; Diagnosis; Emergency medical care; Fibrinogen; Health aspects; Heart rate; Hospitals; Inflammatory diseases; Laboratories; Measurement; Methods; Mortality; Observational studies; Patients; Plasma; Risk factors; Sample size; Trauma; Vital signs; Wounds and injuries; Czech Republic; United States > US; Germany; hypofibrinogenemia; trauma; coagulopathy; shock index; fibrinogen concentrate
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm12041707

Shock index (a ratio between heart rate and systolic blood pressure) predicts transfusion requirements and the need for haemostatic resuscitation in severe trauma patients. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether prehospital and on-admission shock index values can be used to predict low plasma fibrinogen in trauma patients. Between January 2016 and February 2017, trauma patients admitted from the helicopter emergency medical service into two large trauma centres in the Czech Republic were prospectively assessed for demographic, laboratory and trauma-associated variables and shock index at scene, during transport and at admission to the emergency department. Hypofibrinogenemia defined as fibrinogen plasma level of 1.5 g·L was deemed as a cut-off for further analysis. Three hundred and twenty-two patients were screened for eligibility. Of these, 264 (83%) were included for further analysis. The hypofibrinogenemia was predicted by the worst prehospital shock index with the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) of 0.79 (95% CI 0.64-0.91) and by the admission shock index with AUROC of 0.79 (95% CI 0.66-0.91). For predicting hypofibrinogenemia, the prehospital shock index ≥ 1 has 0.5 sensitivity (95% CI 0.19-0.81), 0.88 specificity (95% CI 0.83-0.92) and a negative predictive value of 0.98 (0.96-0.99). The shock index may help to identify trauma patients at risk of hypofibrinogenemia early in the prehospital course.