Clinical trial NCT00920491: Biomarker-enhanced ED Disposition Decisions
Official title: BANC4 (BASEL NON - SPECIFIC COMPLAINTS 4) Biomarker-enhanced Disposition Decisions
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Non-specific Complaints
Keywords: Chief complaint
non-specific symptoms
general weakness / general deterioration
risk assessment in ED patients with non-specific symptoms
Lead sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2009-06-15
Enrollment: 400
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The protocol of the BANC study specifies that patients are consecutively enrolled in order to obtain a random sample of the source population of ED self-referred and referred patients with UC

Brief summary: Patients presenting to emergency departments (ED) with non-specific complaints (NSC) such as "not feeling well", "feeling weak", "being tired", "general deterioration" are a very common and well-known, but poorly studied patient group. The differential diagnosis of NSC is extremely broad ranging from insufficient home care to acute life-threatening conditions. Therefore, the evaluation and diagnostic work-up of these mostly elderly patients with NSC is very time-consuming and not straight-forward. Furthermore, the assessment is complicated by comorbidities, polypharmacy or an altered mental status. For this reason, potentially unnecessary diagnostic efforts are undertaken in order to exclude a serious underlying condition, leading to prolonged throughput times and ED observation unit stays.

On the other hand, the patients' condition might be underestimated by ED physicians, which may result in ineffective, delayed or inadequate disposition, as well as poor patient outcomes. BANC (formerly BAUCAS) is a series of clinical studies with the intention to investigate the usefulness of clinical findings and biomarker levels combined for disposition of patients with non-specific complaints presenting to the emergency department.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* All adult non-trauma patients with an Emergency Severity Index (ESI) of 2 or 3 are screened for inclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

* patients with specific chief complaints are excluded. Moreover, patients in whom an unambiguous and clear working hypothesis with logical management steps can be established are excluded

Primary outcomes:
measure: serious condition (potentially life-threatening or requiring early intervention to prevent health status deterioration)
timeFrame: 30 days
Secondary outcomes:
measure: 30 day mortality
timeFrame: 30 days
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Basel
country: Switzerland
facility: University Hospital Basel
Study officials:
affiliation: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
name: Roland Bingisser, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Nickel CH, Kuster T, Keil C, Messmer AS, Geigy N, Bingisser R. Risk stratification using D-dimers in patients presenting to the emergency department with nonspecific complaints. Eur J Intern Med. 2016 Jun;31:20-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2016.03.006. Epub 2016 Apr 1.
citation: Nickel CH, Messmer AS, Ghanim L, Ilsemann-Karakoumis J, Giersdorf S, Hertel S, Ernst S, Geigy N, Bingisser R. Adrenomedullin for Risk Stratification of Emergency Patients With Nonspecific Complaints: An Interventional Multicenter Pilot Study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Jan;95(1):e2395. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000002395.
citation: Karakoumis J, Nickel CH, Kirsch M, Rohacek M, Geigy N, Muller B, Ackermann S, Bingisser R. Emergency Presentations With Nonspecific Complaints-the Burden of Morbidity and the Spectrum of Underlying Disease: Nonspecific Complaints and Underlying Disease. Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Jul;94(26):e840. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000000840.
citation: Peng A, Rohacek M, Ackermann S, Ilsemann-Karakoumis J, Ghanim L, Messmer AS, Misch F, Nickel CH, Bingisser R. The proportion of correct diagnoses is low in emergency patients with nonspecific complaints presenting to the emergency department. Swiss Med Wkly. 2015 Mar 5;145:w14121. doi: 10.4414/smw.2015.14121. eCollection 2015.
citation: Nickel CH, Ruedinger JM, Messmer AS, Maile S, Peng A, Bodmer M, Kressig RW, Kraehenbuehl S, Bingisser R. Drug-related emergency department visits by elderly patients presenting with non-specific complaints. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2013 Mar 5;21:15. doi: 10.1186/1757-7241-21-15.
citation: Ruedinger JM, Nickel CH, Maile S, Bodmer M, Kressig RW, Bingisser R. Diuretic use, RAAS blockade and morbidity in elderly patients presenting to the Emergency Department with non-specific complaints. Swiss Med Wkly. 2012 May 9;142:w13568. doi: 10.4414/smw.2012.13568. eCollection 2012.