Geriatric Fever Score: A New Decision Rule for Geriatric

Background: Evaluating geriatric patients with fever is time-consuming and challenging. We investigated independent mortality predictors of geriatric patients with fever and developed a prediction rule for emergency care, critical care, and geriatric care physicians to classify patients into mortality risk and disposition groups. Materials and Methods: Consecutive geriatric patients ($65 years old) visiting the emergency department (ED) of a university-affiliated medical center between June 1 and July 21, 2010, were enrolled when they met the criteria of fever: a tympanic temperature $37.2uC or a baseline temperature elevated $1.3uC. Thirty-day mortality was the primary endpoint. Internal validation with bootstrap re-sampling was done. Results: Three hundred thirty geriatric patients were enrolled. We found three independent mortality predictors: Leukocytosis (WBC.12,000 cells/mm3), Severe coma (GCS # 8), and Thrombocytopenia (platelets,150 103/mm3) (LST)