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Sepsis & infection

Prehospital qSOFA adds a little prognostic signal

Prehospital qSOFA Is Associated with 30-Day Mortality Within Emergency Department Triage Strata in Ambulance-Transported Adults with Suspected Infection: An Exploratory Three-Year Retrospective Cohort Study
Journal of Clinical Medicine · 2026-09-30 · Added 17 October 2026

A Turkish retrospective cohort tested whether the prehospital qSOFA already recorded on the chart adds prognostic information for ambulance-transported suspected infection — it predicted 30-day mortality within every ED triage stratum but added almost nothing to a full arrival model (ΔAUC 0.007).

Study type

Cohort

Design

Retrospective single-centre cohort

Participants

1,077 adults with suspected infection transported by ambulance

Main finding

Within ED triage strata, a prehospital qSOFA ≥2 roughly doubled the odds of 30-day death (aOR 2.06 triage-negative, 1.84 triage-positive), but added only 0.007 AUC beyond arrival vitals and labs.

Caveat

Single Turkish centre with 58% of eligible patients excluded, so selection bias is a serious risk.

Bottom line

Hypothesis-generating

Learning goal

Weigh the value of prehospital qSOFA alongside triage vitals when judging mortality risk in suspected sepsis.

More

• Topic: Sepsis & infection
• Daily scan: 17 October 2026
• Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 17 October 2026

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