External Validation of Another Score to Predict Mortality in Heart Failure

Several congestive heart failure (CHF) risk scores exist to help determine which patients can be discharged from the emergency department (ED). These authors sought to externally validate a risk score developed in Spain — the MEESSI-AHF (Multiple Estimation of Risk Based on the Emergency Department Spanish Score in Patients with Acute Heart Failure) — in another country. The MEESSI score includes 13 variables that are available in the ED, though some (e.g., the Barthel Index) are not particularly easy to calculate by rote.

The authors analyzed MEESSI test characteristics for 1572 patients at four EDs in Switzerland who were ultimately adjudicated to have acute CHF exacerbations. Clinical care was at the discretion of the treating team, blind…