Utility of shock index to predict mortality risk in decompensated heart failure

Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Utility of shock index to predict mortality risk in decompensated heart failure
 
Creator Naidoo-Pillay, Amanda Rajan, Suma Engelbrecht, Andreas
 
Subject Family medicine; Emergency medicine; Primary health care; Rural medicine; General practice shock index; symptomatic heart failure; modified shock index; reverse shock index; mortality; inotropes
Description Background: Decompensated heart failure (HF) is a serious condition that requires rapid evaluation and treatment. Shock index (SI) is a bedside predictor tool used to identify risk of mortality and morbidity.Methods: This multicentre retrospective descriptive study evaluated SI, modified shock index (MSI) and reverse shock index (RSI) as predictors of mortality in decompensated HF. Emergency department records for a 6-month period were analysed. The primary outcome was to identify if SI 0.9 could predict mortality during hospital admission. Secondary outcomes included SI 0.9, MSI 0.93 and RSI 1 for prediction of 72-h mortality, use of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation, inotropic, vasopressor or nitroglycerine infusions and need for endotracheal intubation.Results: Overall mortality during hospital admission was 4.3%, impacting internal validity. For inotrope use, SI 0.9 at 12 h produced an odds ratio (OR) of 12.33 (confidence interval [CI] 2.03–74.89; P 0.006). Modified shock index 0.93 suggested potential for mortality and critical intervention prediction but lacked statistical significance. Reverse shock index 1.0 at 0 h indicated ORs of 8.89 (CI 1.11–70.98) for in-hospital mortality and 9.88 (CI 1.70 – 57.27) for inotrope use.Conclusion: SI 0.9 at 12 h predicted an increased need for inotropes. Reverse shock index demonstrates significant predictive value for mortality and critical interventions in decompensated HF. Reverse shock index appears to be the most effective index in predicting both mortality and need for critical interventions, outperforming SI and MSI. Further prospective studies are needed to validate these findings.Contribution: This research will assist with early triage of decompensated HF patients to appropriate dispositions and guide inexperienced clinicians to identify high-risk patients.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor University of Pretoria
Date 2025-07-24
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Multicentre; retrospective; descriptive
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jcmsa.v3i1.193
 
Source Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa; Vol 3, No 1 (2025); 8 pages 2960-110X 3105-4331
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/193/654 https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/193/655 https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/193/656 https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/193/657
 
Coverage Africa; South Africa; Gauteng; Tshwane; Pretoria January 2019 - June 2019 Adult patients (18-85years); gender (male 46.24% and female 53.76); varying ethnicity; employed, unemployed, students and pensioners
Rights Copyright (c) 2025 Amanda Naidoo-Pillay, Suma Rajan, Andreas Engelbrecht https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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