Predictive validity of the simplified Radiographic Assessment of Lung Edema score for mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19

Background: Early and precise identification of COVID-19 patients at high risk of mortality is vital for guiding treatment decisions. This study evaluated the predictive validity of the simplified Radiographic Assessment of Lung Edema (RALE) score, derived from chest X-rays (CXRs), for hospital mortality among critically ill patients with Delta-variant COVID-19. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of 105 critically ill adults with confirmed Delta-variant COVID-19 at an intensive care center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, between 30 July and 15 October 2021. We calculated the simplified RALE score (range 0-8) from admission frontal CXRs. We evaluated predictive performance using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). We used multivariable logistic regression to assess associations between the…