Registry of Patients With Acute Dyspnea in the Emergency Department

Prospective Registry for Quality Assurance of Medical Care of Patients With Acute Dyspnea in the Emergency Department

This is a prospective registry of patients presenting with acute dyspnea to the emergency department of the city hospital in Nuremberg. There is evidence that acute dyspnea is associated with a mortality rate of 10%, however acute dyspnea is not perceived as a life-threatening condition, both in public and in health care providers. Our aim is to describe the patient collective concerning their demographics, baseline characteristics, type of referral and disposition, medical care processes and prognosis. Secondly, we want to evaluate if the subjective risk assessment of emergency department personnel matches with objective risk stratification tools and the actual outcome of the studied patients.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Heart Failure; COPD; Dyspnea

Detailed Description

This is a prospective registry of patients presenting with acute dyspnea to the emergency department of the city hospital in Nuremberg during May 23th 2013 and October 31th 2013. To be included into the registry the patient has to express acute dyspnea. Minor patients are not included. The admission documents of the studied patients are accompanied by a questionnaire that has to be completed by the triage nurse and the attending physician. The questionnaire includes items like professional experience and subjective assessment of patient's prognosis. In addition the attending physician has to state if the evaluation of medical history was difficult, if previous medication is known and how likely the presence of heart failure as underlying condition is. Data of the questionnaire, the patient record and the follow up contacts are entered in a SPSS database. Finally, we measure the OPTIMIZE-HF score (Abraham et al. 2008) and the PRIDE mortality score (Baggish et al. 2007) in a retrospective manner in order to compare the subjective assessments with objective criteria.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 947

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Bavaria
    • Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, 90471
      • Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, City Hospital Nuremberg

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients presenting to the emergency department of the city hospital Nuremberg

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• expression of acute dyspnea in the emergency department

Exclusion Criteria:

• age < 18 years

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
adult patients with acute dyspnea in ED

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
all cause mortality	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
demographics and baseline characteristics	baseline characteristics as for example vital signs, medication, underlying disease condition (adjusted final diagnosis), medical history, concomitant diseases	1 month
medical care processes	type of referral, disposition patterns, diagnostic and therapeutical measures	1 day
subjective and objective risk assessment	data from the questionnaire completed by triage nurse and attending physician, OPTIMIZE-HF and PRIDE mortality score	1 month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Klinikum Nürnberg
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Michael Christ, Prof., Klinikum Nürnberg

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: May 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 25, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 25, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): July 29, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): April 1, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 31, 2016
• Last Verified: March 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: emergency department; mortality; risk assessment; registry; dyspnea; baseline characteristics
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Respiration Disorders; Disease Attributes; Signs and Symptoms, Respiratory; Emergencies; Dyspnea
• Other Study ID Numbers: OOB01