Development and internal validation of a Wasp Sting Severity Score to assess severity and indicate blood purification in persons with Asian wasp stings

Background In recent years, the incidence of wasp sting has increased annually in China. Organ damage and high mortality due to mass wasp envenomation remain major challenges. Timely and appropriate medical intervention can improve survival. However, there are currently no normalized tools for early assessment of severity. Methods The clinical data of wasp sting patients hospitalized from 2011 to 2019 were used as a training set. Logistic regression was used to explore major risk factors for the development of a severe case of wasp sting (SC). The Wasp Sting Severity Score (WSS) was determined considering these risk factors to identify SCs and was tested in a validation dataset that was prospectively collected in 2020. Results The data of 1131 wasp sting patients from 2011 to 2019 were included in the training set. Logistic regression analysis showed that tea-colored urine, number of stings, and lactate dehydrogenase and total bilirubin levels were risk factors for developing an SC. The WSS was developed considering these four risk factors, and the total possible WSS was 20 points. The WSS was tested using the validation dataset, comprising the data of 153 patients, in 2020, and we found that a WSS >= 3 points was an important indication for blood purification, with a sensitivity of 71.9%, specificity of 92.6% and an area under the curve of 0.918 (95% confidence interval 0.873-0.962). Among patients with more than 30 stings, mortality in those who underwent plasma exchange (PE) within 24 h after admission was significantly lower than that in those who did not receive PE treatment (14.3% versus 46.9%, P = 0.003). However, continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) (P = 0.317) and hemoperfusion (HP) (P = 0.869) did not significantly reduce mortality. Conclusions Patients with WSS scores >= 3 should be considered for blood purification as early as possible in addition to routine treatment. In addition, PE is better than CVVH and HP at reducing mortality in patients suffering from severe wasp stings.

Automated summary

The incidence of wasp sting has been increasing in China, resulting in organ damage and high mortality. This study identified risk factors for severe cases of wasp sting and developed a severity scoring system, WSS. The WSS score of >= 3 can indicate the need for blood purification and reduce mortality.