Patient screening
A total of 3405 hospitalized patients who were found to be positive for influenza viral RNA during the study period were screened for eligibility, of whom 1107 with laboratory-confirmed Flu-p were enrolled in this study. ( Figure 1).
Patient characteristics
Enrolled patients exhibited a median age of 61.0 years, and were 54.5% (603/1107) male. The most prevalent comorbidities in these patients included cardiovascular disease (22.7%, 251/1107), diabetes mellitus (13.4%, 148/1107), and cerebrovascular disease (10.3%, 114/1107) (Supplementary material 4). In total, 33.5% (371/1107) patients were found to be co-infected with other community-acquired pathogens (Supplementary Material 5). Of these patients, non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) and IMV were respectively conducted within 14 days of admission for 11.6% (128/1107) and 10.6% (117/1107) of patients. The all-cause 14-day mortality rate for these patients was 3.2% (35/1107) (Supplementary material 4).
Risk factors associated with 14-day IMV rates in Flu-p patients
Next, univariable analyses were conducted in the derivation cohort, which identified age ≥ 65 years old, influenza A virus infection, the presence of solid malignant tumors, a respiratory rate ≥ 30 breaths/min, a leukocyte count > 10×109/L, Lymphocytes < 0.8×109/L, albumin < 35 g/L, arterial PH < 7.35, PaO2/FiO2 < 300 mmHg, early NAI therapy, and systemic corticosteroids use at admission associated with 14-day IMV rates in Flu-p patients (Table 1).
In a subsequent multivariable logistic regression model, factors that were identified as independent predictors of a higher risk of requiring IMV in Flu-p patients (Figure 2) included: early NAI use (OR 0.014, 95% CI 0.003-0.083, p < 0.001; -3 points), multilobar infiltrates (OR 4.568, 95% CI 1.591-13.118, p = 0.007; 1 point), lymphocytes < 0.8×109/L (OR 5.755, 95% CI 2.261-14.649, p < 0.001; 1 point), systemic corticosteroid administration (OR 5.874, 95% CI 2.356-14.642, p < 0.001; 2 points), age ≥ 65 years old (OR 9.052, 95% CI 3.544-23.119, p < 0.001; 2 points), PaO2/FiO2 < 300 mmHg (OR 9.966, 95% CI 3.619-27.447, p < 0.001; 2 points), respiratory rate ≥ 30 breaths/min (OR 53.835, 95% CI 19.711-147.033, p < 0.001; 3 points), and arterial PH < 7.35 (OR 255.404, 95% CI 42.701-527.608, p < 0.001; 3 points).
Assessment of the predictive performance of Flu-IV scores
The AUROC value for the Flu-IV score model developed based upon the above multivariable analysis was 0.909 in our validation patient cohort (95% CI 0.851 - 0.950), and was higher than that of the ROX index (AUROC = 0.594, 95% CI 0.510 - 0.674, p = 0.004), modified ROX index (AUROC = 0.633, 95% CI 0.550 - 0.710, p = 0.012), or HACOR scale (AUROC = 0.622, 95% CI 0.539 - 0.700, p < 0.001) (Supplementary Material 6 and Figure 3). Similar findings were also independently made in the derivation cohort (Supplementary Material 7 and Supplementary Figure 1).
A good performance was observed between the observed and predicted risk of IMV from the derivation cohort and validation cohort, indicating that the algorithms were well calibrated (Supplementary Figure 2).
Table 2 compiles the mortality rates, sensitivity, and specificity values associated with our Flu-IV score model in the overall patient cohort. Patients were stratified into high- and low-risk cohorts based upon whether they had Flu-IV scores that were above or below the optimal cutoff score of 5 points. Subsequent Kaplan-Meier curves confirmed that high-risk patients were significantly more likely to require IMV relative to low-risk patients (47.4% vs 1.9%, log-rank test, p < 0.001) (Figure 4).