Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score is used to determine disease severity and predict outcomes in critically ill patients. However, the prognostic significance of APACHE after acute paraquat (PQ) poisoning remains unclear. The meta-analysis was aimed to study the value of APACHE II in predicting mortality in PQ-exposed Chinese and Korean patients. METHODS: Databases that included PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched through August 2016. Studies using APACHE II to predict mortality in PQ-poisoned patients were selected. The odds ratio and weighted mean difference (WMD) were used to pool binary and continuous data. Additionally, we aggregated sensitivity, specificity, and other measures of accuracy. Statistical analyses were made using the Stata V.13.0 software. RESULTS: This study included 29 studies, and 25 studies evaluated APACHE II scores on admission. Pooled data showed that survivors had significantly lower total scores than nonsurvivors (WMD = -7.29, and I = 98.2%, both P <.05). The pooled sensitivity of an APACHE II score ≥5 for predicting mortality was 75% and the pooled specificity was 86%. The positive likelihood ratio (PLR) was 5.3 and the negative likelihood ratio (NLR) was 0.29. The pooled sensitivity of an APACHE II score ≥10 for predicting mortality was 88% and the pooled specificity was 84%. The pooled PLR and NLR was 5.5 and 0.15, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study showed PQ-poisoned nonsurvivors had significantly higher APACHE II score than did survivors. APACHE II scores satisfactorily predicted mortality.