A Novel Determinant of Prognosis in Acute Pulmonary Edema: Intermountain Risk Score

OBJECTIVE
The Intermountain Risk Score (IMRS), calculated using age, gender, complete blood count (CBC), and simple laboratory analyses, is an easy-to-use and cost-effective tool developed to predict mortality. In our study, we aimed to determine whether the IMRS could predict mortality in patients admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of acute pulmonary edema.


METHODS
A total of 371 patients who were admitted with a diagnosis of pulmonary edema, were included in our study. The IMRS of the patients was determined using a calculation tool, and the patients were divided into three groups based on the determined value: low, moderate, and high IMRS.


RESULTS
The patients included in our study comprised 208 women and 163 men, with an average age of 68.7 years. There was a statistically significant difference between the patient groups concerning both 1-month and 1-year mortality rates. Additionally, there was a significant difference in IMRS between patients who developed in-hospital, 1-month, and 1-year mortality and those who survived. In the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis, a cutoff value of 15.5 for the IMRS predicted both 1-year and 1-month mortality. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, the highest mortality risk was observed in the high IMRS group and the lowest mortality risk in the low IMRS group.


CONCLUSION
Our research results show that the IMRS strongly predicts both short-term and long-term mortality in patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of acute pulmonary edema.