Acute exacerbations of copd (AECOPD) in the emergency room (ER): prognostic value of proadrenomedulline (PROADM)

Methods This French prospective multicenter observational study was conducted in 22 hospitals from March 2013 to September 2014. All patients admitted to the ER with AECOPD as primary diagnosis were considered for inclusion. A previously published clinical prognostic score was computed based on the presence of clinical severity signs at entry, baseline dyspnea grade and age [[1]]. This score allows classification of patients in 3 risk categories (high, intermediate and low). Venous blood sample was obtained for duplicate determination of proADM level. The primary endpoint was a composite criteria comprising 30-day mortality, secondary transfer to an intensive care unit and AECOPD recurrence. The primary analysis was the assessment of the predictive value of proADM for the primary endpoint using a multivariate logistic regression model adjusted for the clinical risk category.