That is how the authors frame it, after all: “‘Vital signs are vital’ is a common refrain in emergency medicine.”
And, these authors add to the body of work further exploring this axiom. In this simple, retrospective data analysis, they evaluate all adult visits to their Emergency Department to determine the effect of abnormal vital signs at disposition on short-term outcomes.
For discharges, about 3% of their cohort returned to the same ED within 72 hours. Only a handful – a little less than 15% – had any vital sign abnormalities at discharge. And, yes, those with vital sign abnormalities were slightly more likely to return than those who did not, with relative risk ratios centered generally around 1.2. Then, a little more than a quarter of patients were admitted on their return visit – and, again, vital sign abnormalities increased the likelihood of subsequent admission by a small amount. In this case, fever was more likely than the other abnormal vital signs to tip the scales towards admission.
Similarly, an analysis of inpatient visits and subsequent escalations in care noted vital sign abnormalities exhibited a greater risk of upgrade, with RRs centered around 2.
Overall, however, the vast majority of patients who were either admitted or discharged with abnormal vital signs did well. Abnormal vital signs are always worth recognizing and dedicating a bit of cognitive effort, but the aren’t strong enough predictors of subsequent outcomes to drive changes in management.
“Association of Vital Signs and Process Outcomes in Emergency Department Patients”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6526877/