15th January 2021
New research published by Portsmouth Academic ConsortIum For Investigating COVID-19 (PACIFIC-19) suggests that both the NEWS and NEWS2 National Early Warning Scores are suitable for the assessment of acute-illness severity in patients with Covid-19.
The research was conducted using vital sign datasets, recorded via System C's CareFlow Vitals e-observations system, for patients admitted to Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the ability of NEWS or NEWS2 to discriminate the combined outcome of either death or unanticipated intensive care unit (ICU) admission within 24 hours of a vital sign set in five patient cohorts – a COVID-19 positive cohort and four control cohorts (one from 2018, one from 2019 and two from 2020).
The study found that NEWS and NEWS2 performance was good or similar across all cohorts, suggesting that NEWS and NEWS2 are suitable for the assessment of acute-illness severity in patients with Covid-19 without any amendments.
To read the full paper, click here.
