Background: The relationship between diagnosis, illness severity, and mortality risk for unselected emergency admissions is poorly defined.
Aim: To define primary ICD-10 diagnostic chapters at discharge, admission illness severity by the National Early Warning Score, and in-hospital mortality for all unselected emergency admissions.
Method: Retrospective, observational, cohort study of 122,259 unselected, adult emergency admissions to Salford Royal Hospital between 2014 and 2022.
Results: In-hospital mortality was 4.3% but most patients had an ICD-10 chapter associated with a lower risk of death. 60% of in-hospital deaths were in four chapters, infections, circulatory and respiratory diseases, or neoplasms. An admission NEWS ≥3 was associated with earlier mortality and an eight-fold increased risk of in-hospital mortality. 45% of all in-hospital deaths occurred in patients with an admission NEWS <3.
Conclusion: Mortality in emergency hospital admissions is associated with illness severity and four diagnostic chapters. NEWS should not be the only arbiter of hospital admission, as for certain diagnostic chapters the risk of death is high even if vital signs on presentation are normal.
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