Poor relation between Glasgow coma scale and survival after head injury.

BACKGROUND

Early indicators or predictors of outcome after head injury can affect clinical decision making and the choice of case-specific approaches to rehabilitation.

MATERIAL/METHODS: A retrospective study of 60 patients with a head injury who had been admitted to a tertiary care hospital intensive care unit was undertaken to explore the possible correlations between the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and outcome. The correlation among the GCS, GCS eye (GCS-E), GCS verbal (GCS-V), and GCS motor (GCS-M) components and outcome (survival or death) was assessed by constructing contingency Tables and performing the Pearson chi2 and likelihood ratio tests. The statistical significance was set at a P value of 0.05.

RESULTS

The mean total GCS score was 6.39+/-0.554 (6.81+/-0.983 for survivors and 5.55+/-0.706 for nonsurvivors). The most frequent GCS score, which was 3 (61.67%), was followed by scores of 15 and 14 (10% and 6.7%, respectively). No correlation was found between outcome and the GCS, GCS-E, GCS-V, or GCS-M components.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that the GCS has a limited predictive value of outcome in patients with a head injury, particularly if used as sole predictor or in patients with a mild-to-moderately severe injury.