Study on the application of modified early warning score system in patients with acute pancreatitis

Objective To evaluate the modified early warning score (MEWS) system in the assessment of the severity and prognosis in acute pancreatitis (AP). Method Ninety two AP patients had been recruited from the Department of Emergency Medicine during November, 2007 to May, 2008. All patients fulfilled at least 2 of the three criteria of American AP clinical guideline, (1) typical abdominal pain; (2) serum amylase level ≥3times of upper normal limit; (3) typical ultrasound or CT findings for AP. Patients with cardiac, pulmonary, hepatic , renal insufficiency or other comorbidities were ruled out. Each patient was evaluated MEWS at day 1,2, and 3 after admission, and subsequently stratified into two groups: high risk group with MEWS ≥4 and moderate risk group with MEWS < 4. The clinical course, end organ failure, and mortality rate was compared between two groups. Other parameters including Ranson score, APACHE Ⅱ score were also obtained. Spearman correlation,group student t test, or Chi square tests were used. Results High risk group has significant prolonged clinical course ( P < 0.05 ) , higher end organ failure rate (P < 0.01) , compared to low risk group. Patients who can not achieve MEWS improvements after interventions have the highest mortality rate (P < 0.01). The MEWS positively correlated with Ranson and APACHE Ⅱ scores ( r = 0.486, and 0.583, respectively, P <0.05). Conclusions MEWS is a valid and simple tool to evaluate severity and prognosis of AP in early stage. Key words: Acute pancreatitis;  Modified early warning score;  Ranson score;  APACHEⅡ score