How should multiple organ dysfunction syndrome be assessed? A review of the variations in current scoring systems.

There are many scores for evaluating multiple organ dysfunction (MODS) which differ appreciably, and this makes it difficult to compare results from different research groups. In addition the variables used to describe organ dysfunction are not always as organ-specific as they should be. In this review we have studied 20 MODS scoring systems to illustrate the variety in variables used to assess organ dysfunction.