title: Severe head injuries: an outcome prediction and survival analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the predictors determined early after admission and associated with unfavorable outcome or early (within 48 h) death after severe head injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A neurosurgical intensive care unit in a university hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  198 consecutive comatose patients hospitalized from 1989 to 1992.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Logistic regression showed that a combination of age, best motor response score from the Glasgow Coma Scale, and hypoxia provided a good prediction model of unfavorable outcome (sensitivity = 0.93). The length of participation of survivors was 6 to 61 months (median 27.1). The Cox model demonstrated age, motor score less than 3, mydriasis, and hypoxia as poor prognosis factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinicians can determine the odds of a good outcome from the combination of three easily measurable factors using a simple diagram constructed from logistic regression. Survival analysis showed that motor score adjusted values greater than 3 had the same prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Département d' Anesthésie Réanimation 1, CHU de Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Combes
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fauvage
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colonna
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Passagia
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Chirossel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jacquot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome