Internal Validation of the Sepsis in Obstetrics Score to Identify Risk of Morbidity from Sepsis in Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively validate the Sepsis in Obstetrics Score, a pregnancy-specific sepsis scoring system, to identify risk for intensive care unit (ICU) admission for sepsis in pregnancy. METHODS: This is a prospective validation study of the Sepsis in Obstetrics Score. The primary outcome was admission to the ICU for sepsis. Secondary outcomes included admission to a telemetry unit and time to administration of antibiotic therapy. We evaluated test characteristics of a predetermined score of 6 or greater. RESULTS: Between March 2012 and May 2015, 1,250 pregnant or postpartum women presented to the emergency department and met systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria. Of those, 425 (34%) had a clinical suspicion or diagnosis of an infection, 14 of whom (3.3%) were admitted to the ICU. The Sepsis in Obstetrics Score had an area under the curve of 0.85 (95% CI 0.76-0.95) for prediction of ICU admission for sepsis. This is within the prespecified 15% margin of the area under the curve of 0.97 found in the derivation cohort. A score of 6 or greater had a sensitivity of 64%, specificity of 88%, positive predictive value of 15%, and negative predictive value of 98.6%. Women with a score 6 or greater were more likely to be admitted to the ICU (15% compared with 1.4%, P <.01), admitted to a telemetry unit (37.3% compared with 7.2%, P <.01), and have antibiotic therapy initiated (90% compared with 72.9%, P <.01), initiated more quickly (3.2 compared with 3.7 hours, P=.03), although not within 1 hour (5.6 compared with 3.4%, P=.44). CONCLUSION: The Sepsis in Obstetrics Score is a validated pregnancy-specific score to identify risk of ICU admission for sepsis with the threshold score of 6 having a negative predictive value of 98.6%. Adherence to antibiotic administration guidelines is poor.