title: The Boston AIDS Survival Score (BASS): a multidimensional AIDS severity instrument.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study developed a new acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) severity system by including diagnostic, physiological, functional, and sociodemographic factors predictive of survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three-hundred five persons with AIDS in Boston were interviewed; their medical records were reviewed and vital status ascertained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall median (+/- SD) survival for the cohort from the first interview until death was 560 +/- 14.4 days. The best model for predicting survival, the Boston AIDS Survival Score, included the Justice score (stage 2 relative hazard [RH] = 1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.80, 1.96; stage 3 RH = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.15, 2.70), a newly developed opportunistic disease score (Boston Opportunistic Disease Survival Score; stage 2 RH = 1.35, 95% CI = 0.90, 2.02; stage 3 RH = 2.10, 95% CI = 1.38, 3.18), and measures of activities of daily living (any intermediate limitations, RH = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.05, 3.21; any basic limitations, RH = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.44, 4.69). This model had substantially greater predictive power (R2 = .17, C statistic = .68) than the Justice score alone (R2 = .09, C statistic = .61).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Incorporating data on clinically important events and functional status into a physiologically based system can improve the prediction of survival with AIDS.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Urban Health Policy and Research, Boston Department of Health and Hospitals, Mass., USA.
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Seage
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gatsonis
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Weissman
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Cleary
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Massagli
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Craven
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Makadon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Coltin
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Epstein
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000401:mortality*; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D001900:Boston; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis