Scoring Systems for Severity of Illness in Critical Care

11.4 - Scoring Systems for Severity of Illness in Critical Care

from Section 11 - Professionalism, Patient Safety, Governance and Health Systems Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2023

Katie Samuel and

Edited by

Debashish Dutta and

Ned Gilbert-Kawai: Affiliation:
The Royal Liverpool Hospital
Debashish Dutta: Affiliation:
Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow
Carl Waldmann: Affiliation:
Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading

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Summary

Key Learning Points

1. Predictive scoring systems can use physiological, clinical and laboratory data to predict critical care patient mortality.
2. Their use extends to enabling standardisation of research cohorts, comparing and auditing critical care units and triaging critical care provision.
3. The most commonly used general scoring systems worldwide are APACHE (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation) II and SOFA (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) scores.
4. All systems need to be validated for calibration and discrimination, and have the potential to become less accurate over time.
5. No one system is better than any other – all have advantages and disadvantages.

Keywords

severity of illness predictive scoring systems APACHE SAPS Mortality Prediction Model

Type: Chapter
Information: Intensive Care Medicine
The Essential Guide
, pp. 749 - 751

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108989060 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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References

References and Further Reading

Bouch, DC, Thompson, JP. Severity scoring systems in the critically ill. Contin Educ Anaesth Crit Care Pain 2008;8:181–5.CrossRef Google Scholar

Breslow, MJ, Badawi, O. Severity scoring in the critically ill: Part 1—interpretation and accuracy of outcome prediction scoring systems. Chest 2012;141:245–52.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Breslow, MJ, Badawi, O. Severity scoring in the critically ill: Part 2: maximizing value from outcome prediction scoring systems. Chest 2012;141:518–27.Google Scholar

Kelley, MA. 2021. Predictive scoring systems in the intensive care unit. www.uptodate.com/contents/predictive-scoring-systems-in-the-intensive-care-unit Google Scholar

Vincent, J-L, Moreno, R. Clinical review: scoring systems in the critically ill. Crit Care 2010;14:207.Google Scholar