The Animal Trauma Triage Score outperforms the VetCOT score in cats with high-rise syndrome

To evaluate the prognostic utility of the canine-derived Veterinary Committee on Trauma score in cats suffering from high-rise syndrome and to compare it with the Animal Trauma Triage Score. To date, no trauma score has been developed exclusively from feline-derived data, and existing systems are adaptations or validations of scores originally created for other or mixed species.

Retrospective observational study of 60 cats with high-rise syndrome. Recorded variables on admission were age, breed, sex, weight, body condition score, height of fall, clinicopathological variables, Animal Trauma Triage Score and Veterinary Committee on Trauma score. Mortality and length of hospital stay were also recorded. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses as well as receiver operating characteristic curves were used to compare the different variables.

Sixty cats were included. Eight cats (13%) did not survive to discharge. The receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the Animal Trauma Triage Score predicted mortality significantly better (AUC = 0.85, P < .001, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.95) than the Veterinary Committee on Trauma score (AUC = 0.709, P = .038, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.91). Requirement for vasopressor therapy (P = .008, OR 0.10, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.56), higher height of fall (P < .005, OR 3.69, 95% CI 1.49 to 9.10), serum lactate (P = .013, OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.25) and the Animal Trauma Triage Score (P = .006, OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.20 to 3.00) were associated with a worse outcome.

In cats with high-rise syndrome, the Animal Trauma Triage Score demonstrates significantly superior prognostic performance compared with the canine-derived Veterinary Committee on Trauma score. Species-specific physiological differences may influence the applicability of trauma scoring systems in cats, supporting the need for further feline-specific validation of trauma scoring systems.