Prognosis prediction with charlson comorbidity index in peripheral artery patients presenting to the emergency department

Prognosis Prediction with Charlson Comorbidity Index in Peripheral Artery Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department Background and Objectives: Peripheral artery disease occurs due to systemic atherosclerosis in the body that increases over time. It is mainly seen in the geriatric age group and poses a significant problem for public health due to its high morbidity and mortality. The Charlson comorbidity index, actively used in the clinical follow-up of many patients, is a scoring system accepted as the gold standard in predicting the risk of death in those with comorbid diseases. Our primary aim in the study is to investigate the place and usability of the Charlson comorbidity index in predicting the prognosis of peripheral artery patients. Our secondary aim is to examine the relationship between COVID-19 disease and vaccination status and the incidence and mortality of peripheral artery disease. Materials and Methods: This research was carried out retrospectively in patients who were admitted to the Emergency Polyclinic of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Training and Research Hospital between January 2018 and October 2023 and were suspected by the clinician of acute peripheral artery disease, with the approval of the ethics committee. Patients older than 18 years who were suspected of peripheral artery disease in the emergency department and consulted to cardiovascular surgery by ultrasound or tomography were included in the study. Patients were evaluated according to the treatment preference of the cardiovascular surgeon from the consultation notes and their 6-month mortality was evaluated by using the old diagnoses in the system and the data in the routine hemogram and coagulation tests requested for these patient groups, age, gender, whether they had COVID-19 and their COVID-19 vaccination status. Results: The study was conducted on 197 patients. 130 of the patients were women and 67 were men. At the six-month follow-up, it was determined that 40.8% of women lived and 49.3% died, while 59.2% of men lived and 50.7% died. It was observed that the Charlson Comorbidity Index was statistically highly significant on life status (p< 0.001) and that a unit increase in the index increased the risk of mortality by 30% (OR: 1.3 vii (95%CI: 1.14-1.4); <0.01). It has been understood that having COVID-19 disease has a decisive effect on the risk of non-COVID-19 death and having COVID-19 is an independent predictor of mortality (OR: 2.24 (95%CI: 1.2-4.47); 0.022). Conclusion: It was concluded that the Charlson comorbidity index, which is simple and practical in clinical applicability, can be preferred to determine the mortality of peripheral artery patients. It was determined that COVID-19 was an independent risk factor for mortality, but getting the COVID-19 vaccine did not have a statistically significant effect on mortality. Keywords: Acute peripheral artery, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Emergency department