Echevarria C, et al. - Given that two oxygen saturation scales are included in the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2); the second adjusts target saturations to 88%–92% for those with hypercapnic respiratory failure, and a simplified practice can be run by using this second scale in all patients with COPD exacerbation (‘NEWS2_{All COPD}’) but there is lack of knowledge regarding the influence on alert frequency and prognostic performance, therefore, researchers addressed this issue and compared the predictive ability of admission NEWS2 score with that of DECAF (dyspnoea, eosinopenia, consolidation, acidaemia, atrial fibrillation) for inpatient mortality in patients with COPD exacerbation. This study included 2,645 patients from UK hospitals. At admission, NEWS, NEWS2 and NEWS2_{All COPD} and DECAF were calculated in these patients. For all NEWS iterations, evaluation of alert frequency and appropriateness was done. Findings revealed the safety of NEWS2_{All COPD} vs NEWS2 in attenuating the alert frequency. With regard to clinical decision-making on admission, the superior prognostic performance of DECAF was noted, though it failed to substitute repeated measures of NEWS2 during hospitalisation to identify the deteriorating patient.