Risk Stratification in Acute Care: The Meaning of suPAR Measurement in Triage (suPAR)

In a health care system where the general population is growing, more patients are living with chronic conditions and the hospitals are reducing beds and length of stay, it is crucial to perform safe and fast risk stratification of patients presenting in the Emergency departments. Risk stratification is currently performed with a combination of measurement of the vital signs and assessment of the primary complaint. The aim of the current study is to assess whether the supplement of biomarkers can improve the risk stratification in regard to mortality, readmissions and improve overall patient flow in the Emergency departments. Soluble urokinase plasminogen activating receptor (suPAR) is the soluble form of urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). uPAR is present on various immunological active cells, as well as endothelia and smooth muscle cells. It is believed that suPAR mirrors the inflammatory response in patients. Previous studies have shown a strong association with mortality and severity of disease in a broad variety of conditions (infection, hepatic-, renal-, cardiac- and lung disease) as well as a possible marker of disease development in the general population. These abilities indicate that suPAR although unspecific would be ideal to identify patients at high- and at low-risk. The aim is to target interventions and limited clinical focus where it is most beneficial. In unselected patients suPAR is one of the strongest prognostic biomarker available to date.

It is not known whether information on prognosis in the Emergency department can be used to prevent death, serious complications or reduce admissions and readmissions.

The purpose of the current study is to examine if introduction of the biomarker suPAR and education of doctors in the meaning of suPAR levels and association to disease, can reduce mortality, admissions and readmission in patients referred to the emergency rooms.