The Third International Consensus Definitions (Sepsis-3) Task Force recommended the use of the quick Sequential [Sepsis-related] Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score to screen patients for sepsis outside of the ICU. However, subsequent studies raise concerns about the sensitivity of qSOFA as a screening tool. We aim to use machine learning to develop a new sepsis screening tool, the Risk of Sepsis (RoS) score, and compare it with a slate of benchmark sepsis-screening tools, including the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), qSOFA, Modified Early Warning Score, and National Early Warning Score.

We used retrospective electronic health record data from adult patients who presented to 49 urban community hospital emergency departments during a 22-month period (N=2,759,529). We used the Rhee clinical surveillance criteria as our standard definition of sepsis and as the primary target for developing our model. The data were randomly split into training and test cohorts to derive and then evaluate the model. A feature selection process was carried out in 3 stages: first, we reviewed existing models for sepsis screening; second, we consulted with local subject matter experts; and third, we used a supervised machine learning called gradient boosting. Key metrics of performance included alert rate, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity, and precision. Performance was assessed at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 hours after an index time.

The RoS score was the most discriminant screening tool at all time thresholds (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.93 to 0.97). Compared with the next most discriminant benchmark (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment), RoS was significantly more sensitive (67.7% versus 49.2% at 1 hour and 84.6% versus 80.4% at 24 hours) and precise (27.6% versus 12.2% at 1 hour and 28.8% versus 11.4% at 24 hours). The sensitivity of qSOFA was relatively low (3.7% at 1 hour and 23.5% at 24 hours).

In this retrospective study, RoS was more timely and discriminant than benchmark screening tools, including those recommend by the Sepsis-3 Task Force. Further study is needed to validate the RoS score at independent sites.