Trends in weighted vital signs and the clinical course of 44,531 acutely ill medical patients while in hospital.

BACKGROUND: little is known about the changes and trends of individual vital signs during the course of acute illness in hospital.

METHODS: the weighted points of the VitalPAC Early Warning Score (ViEWS) were assigned to each vital sign value measured on 44,531 acutely ill medical patients while they were hospitalized in the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Ontario, Canada. These ViEWS weighted vital signs were averaged for every 24 hour period for five days after admission and five days before death or discharge and then combined to obtain an approximation of the trajectory of each vital sign while in hospital.

RESULTS: compared with the other vital signs, the ViEWS weighted points for respiratory rate increase the most in patients who died in hospital and decrease the most in survivors. Combining respiratory rate with the weighted points for any of the other vital signs reduced rather than increased their monitoring performance.

CONCLUSION: trends in respiratory rate, measured by observation at the bedside and given a ViEWS weighting is the best predictor of clinical outcome; minor changes predicted clinical outcome several days in advance.