New scoring system combining WHO ordinal scale and MASCC score in predicting mortality of COVID-19 patients with malignancy and neutropenia: a retrospective cohort study.

Pin-Chen Lin, Yan-Bo Huang, Feng-Che Kuan, Chip-Jin Ng, Shou-Yen Chen

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Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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Pin-Chen LinDepartment of Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University , Taoyuan , 333, Taiwan (R.O.C.).

Yan-Bo HuangDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, No. 5 Fushing St., Gueishan Shiang, Taoyuan, 333, Taiwan (R.O.C.).

Feng-Che KuanDepartment of Oncology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi branch, Chiayi , 613, Taiwan (R.O.C.).

Chip-Jin NgDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, No. 5 Fushing St., Gueishan Shiang, Taoyuan, 333, Taiwan (R.O.C.).

Shou-Yen ChenDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, No. 5 Fushing St., Gueishan Shiang, Taoyuan, 333, Taiwan (R.O.C.). allendream0621@yahoo.com.tw.

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6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCOVID-19 has become a common infectious disease globally and predicting prognosis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is important, especially for patients with risk factors like febrile neutropenia. Our research aimed to analyze prognostic factors of COVID-19 patients with neutropenia and develop effective scoring system to predict the mortality in these patients.

methodsData of COVID-19 patients with neutropenia who presented to the emergency department were extracted from electronic health records across multiple hospitals between April 2021 and September 2022. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Various scoring systems, including the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer risk index (MASCC) score, World Health Organization (WHO) ordinal scale, and the combination of these two scoring systems, were used and compared for prediction of prognosis.

resultsA total of 304 adult COVID-19 in-hospital patients with neutropenia were included into the study. Higher rates of intubation, oxygen use, and ICU admission were observed in the non-survival group. The MASCC score, the WHO ordinal scale and the combined scoring system showed predictive ability for in-hospital mortality, and the combined scoring system had the best predictive power.

conclusionAlthough MASCC score and WHO ordinal score were useful to predict the prognosis of COVID-19 patients with neutropenia, the new system combining MASCC score and WHO ordinal scale had the best performance in predicting the mortality. Intubation, body temperature, and creatine level were the most significant prognostic factors.

Indexed as

COVID-19NeoplasmsNeutropeniaAdultAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHospital MortalityHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrognosisRetrospective StudiesRisk FactorsSARS-CoV-2Severity of Illness IndexCOVID-19MASCC scoreMortalityPredictionScoring systemWHO ordinal scale

Identifiers

PMID41087993

DOI10.1186/s12879-025-11713-9

PMCPMC12522585

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