Evaluation of the effect of various scores determinig the severity of diseases in children presenting with respiratiry symptoms

Applications to the pediatric emergency department due to complaints of respiratory system constitute one of the most common causes of emergency referral. There is wide range of respiratory symptoms such as nasal discharge, tachypnea, shortness of breath, retraction, cyanosis and respiratory failure are caused to application to emergency department. Respiratory failure is the most common cause of cardiopulmonary arrest in children. Many respiratory diseases are mild and self-limiting, and some may be life-threatening and may require immediate diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, it is important that physicians working in the emergency department know these diseases and treat them appropriately. The patients who presented with respiratory complaints were evaluated by using different triage scales and scores in the triage area. These patients were examined and severity of respiratory status were detected. The first aim of our study is analyze the relation between these findings and hospital admission. The second aim of our study was to find fast, reliable, valid and objective respiratory evaluation findings which could be used in triage with the obtained information. 13% of the patients admitted to the emergency department with respiratory complaints were hospitalized. Patients with abnormalities in PAT evaluation had higher hospitalization rate comparison to patients with normal PAT evaluation. Abnormal findings in more than one PAT component were even more strongly associated with admission. Patients were hospitalized had classified as grade 1 and 2 according to their ESI and PaedCTAS triage guidelines at higher rate. To predict the need for admission in the triage, the optimal cutoff point on the ROC are PEWS 4 with %80 sensitivity, %86,5 specificity. Findings with significant statistical value to be used to predict hospitalization in the trige area was found to be consciousness, retraction, oxygen saturation and respiratory rate.