Means and methods for assessing the risk of patients admitted to the emergency room on the basis of the GDF-15

摘要

Described is a method of identifying if a subject is to be admitted to the hospital or intensive care unit, the method comprising a) determining the amount of GDF 15 in a sample of the subject, and b) comparing the amount of GDF 15 determined in step a) to a reference amount, whereby a subject to be admitted to the hospital or intensive care unit is to be identified. Also described is a method for predicting the risk of mortality based on determining the amount of GDF 15 in a subject. Also described are devices and kits for carrying out the aforementioned methods.