ArticleBMJ global health2017
Derivation and validation of a universal vital assessment (UVA) score: a tool for predicting mortality in adult hospitalised patients in sub-Saharan Africa.
Article in BMJ global health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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73 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sepsis screening tools in resource-limited settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy in low- and middle-income countries.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Early warning scores for detecting deterioration in adult hospital patients: systematic review and critical appraisal of methodology.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2020Pooled it
- Development and validation of early warning score system: A systematic literature review.Journal of biomedical informatics · 2020Pooled it
- The Early Recognition and Management of Sepsis in Sub-Saharan African Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Pooled it
- Immediate or high-dose antituberculosis therapy for HIV-related sepsis in Tanzania and Uganda (ATLAS): a phase 3, open-label, randomised, controlled, 2 × 2 factorial, superiority trial.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2026Trial
- Vasopressor Use Among Adults With Sepsis in Uganda and Rwanda: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study.Critical care explorations · 2026Article
- Respiratory Pathogen Detection Among Febrile Inpatients in Northern Tanzania, 2016-2019.Open forum infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Predictors of ICU mortality in septic patients in a resource-limited African setting: a prospective multicenter cohort study in Lubumbashi, DRC.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2026Article
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- Effectiveness of early warning scores in predicting in-hospital mortality and adverse events in adult general-ward patients in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Article
- Aetiology of sepsis in adults living with HIV in East Africa: a secondary analysis of an open-label, multicentre, randomised, controlled phase 3 trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- One-year follow-up of survival and health-related quality of life in patients with medical conditions admitted acutely to hospital in Malawi and Tanzania.Anaesthesia · 2026Article
- The Characteristics of Patients That Develop Severe Leptospirosis: A Scoping Review.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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- Characteristics and outcomes of adult emergency ward patients with sepsis who received corticosteroids at the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda.Emergency medicine journal : EMJ · 2025Observational
- The epidemiology and outcomes of adults with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure in a low-income country in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a prospective, observational, multicentre cohort study.BMJ global health · 2025Observational
- Soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (sTREM-1) predicts mortality in patients with febrile illness in southern Mozambique.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Associations between Organ Dysfunction Scoring Systems and Dysregulated Host Responses in Adults with Severe Infection in Uganda: A Prospective Cohort Study.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Characteristics and In-Hospital Outcomes of Patients With Septic Shock in the Adult Medical Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Hospital in Ethiopia: A Prospective Observational Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
26 authors at 17 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCritical illness is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Identifying patients with the highest risk of death could help with resource allocation and clinical decision making. Accordingly, we derived and validated a universal vital assessment (UVA) score for use in SSA.
methodsWe pooled data from hospital-based cohort studies conducted in six countries in SSA spanning the years 2009-2015. We derived and internally validated a UVA score using decision trees and linear regression and compared its performance with the modified early warning score (MEWS) and the quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score.
resultsOf 5573 patients included in the analysis, 2829 (50.8%) were female, the median (IQR) age was 36 (27-49) years, 2122 (38.1%) were HIV-infected and 996 (17.3%) died in-hospital. The UVA score included points for temperature, heart and respiratory rates, systolic blood pressure, oxygen saturation, Glasgow Coma Scale score and HIV serostatus, and had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.77 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.79), which outperformed MEWS (AUC 0.70 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.71)) and qSOFA (AUC 0.69 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.72)).
conclusionWe identified predictors of in-hospital mortality irrespective of the underlying condition(s) in a large population of hospitalised patients in SSA and derived and internally validated a UVA score to assist clinicians in risk-stratifying patients for in-hospital mortality. The UVA score could help improve patient triage in resource-limited environments and serve as a standard for mortality risk in future studies.
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