EMERALD = Emergency Medicine, Registry Analysis, Learning and Diagnosis
Patient selection: acute onset of headache with 1 or more findings by the Ottawa SAH rule
Parameters:
(1) systolic blood pressure in mm Hg
(2) diastolic blood pressure in mm Hg
(3) blood glucose in mg/dL
(4) serum potassium in mmol/L
Parameter
|
Finding
|
Points
|
systolic blood pressure
|
<= 150 mm Hg
|
0
|
|
> 150 mm Hg
|
1
|
diastolic blood pressure
|
<= 90 mm Hg
|
0
|
|
> 90 mm Hg
|
1
|
blood glucose
|
<= 115 mg/dL
|
0
|
|
> 115 mg/dL
|
1
|
serum potassium
|
< 3.9 mmol/L
|
1
|
|
>= 3.9 mmol/L
|
0
|
total score =
= SUM(points for all 4 parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 4
• A score >= 1 indicates high risk for a subarachnoid hemorrhage, with investigation required.
• A score of 0 indicates a low for subarachnoid hemorrhage, and no further investigation is required.