Adult patients with tetanus in Anhui Province of China from 2013 to 2022: A retrospective study

Tetanus is a highly fatal infectious disease with an incubation period of 7 to 8 days. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for death in tetanus patients, develop a nomogram model for predicting mortality risk. This retrospective study included tetanus patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit department between January 2013 and December 2022. The patients were divided into 2 groups based on their final outcome, namely death group and survival group. Risk factors associated with mortality were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Finally, a nomogram model was developed using the rms package. A total of 91 patients were enrolled in this study, including 54 males and 37 females. The average age of the tetanus patients was 52.88 +/- 16.56 years, with a mean incubation period of 8.51 +/- 3.97 days. The foot was the most common injury site (42.86%), and metal product stabbing was the leading cause of injury (48.78%). Ventilator-associated pneumonia was the most frequent complication (21.98%). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that Ablett classification (odds ratio [OR], 21.999; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.124-117.352), white blood cell count (OR, 6.033; 95%CI, 1.275-28.552), and autonomic nervous dysfunction (OR, 22.663; 95%CI, 4.363-117.728) as independent risk factors for tetanus patients. The C-index of the nomogram model was 0.942, with an area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve at 0.942 (95%CI, 0.871-0.905). Ablett classification, white blood cell count, autonomic nervous dysfunctions were associated with the prognosis of patients with tetanus. The nomogram model developed based on risk factors has high accuracy.