The quick sequential organ failure assessment score (qSOFA) has been proposed as a simple tool to identify patients with sepsis who are at risk for poor outcomes. Its utility in the pre-hospital setting has not been fully elucidated.

This is a retrospective observational study of adult patients arriving by ambulance in September 2016 to an academic emergency department in Fresno, California. The qSOFA score was calculated from pre-hospital vital signs. We investigated its association with sepsis, ED diagnosis of infection, and mortality.

Of 2292 adult medical patients transported by ambulance during the study period, the sensitivity of qSOFA for sepsis and in-hospital mortality were 42.9% and 40.6%, respectively. Specificity of qSOFA for sepsis and mortality were 93.8% and 91.9%, respectively. Of those with an ED diagnosis of infection compared to all patients, qSOFA was more specific but less sensitive for sepsis. Increasing qSOFA score was associated with a discharge diagnosis of sepsis (OR 4.21, 95% CI 3.41–5.21, p < 0.001), in-hospital mortality (OR 3.30, 95% CI 2.28–4.78, p < 0.001), and ED diagnosis of infection (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.18–1.58, p < 0.001). Higher qSOFA score was associated with triage to a higher acuity zone and longer hospital and ICU length of stay, but not up-triage during ED stay.

Pre-hospital qSOFA is specific, but poorly sensitive, for sepsis and sepsis outcomes, especially among patients with an ED diagnosis of infection. Higher qSOFA score was associated with worse outcomes.