Lin et al studied acute respiratory distress syndrome in persons exposed to a combustible dust (starch) explosion. The authors are from the National Defense Medical Center in Taipei.
The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) had an onset within 7 days of the burn. A number of factors may predispose to the ARDS, such as pneumonia. Progression is affected by the patient's age and the burn size, both of which are included in the abbreviated burn severity index (ABSI).
The key predictor on multivariate analysis was an abbreviated burn severity index (ABSI) >= 9 (odds ratio 7.1, p value 0.02). The ABSI would also be predictive of mortality.
Mouth and nose burn had an odds ratio of 6.2 but p value of 0.15.
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve was 0.91.
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