title: Poor relation between Glasgow coma scale and survival after head injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Early indicators or predictors of outcome after head injury can affect clinical decision making and the choice of case-specific approaches to rehabilitation.
  
  
  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.
authors.affiliation: Democritus University of Thrace, Medical School, Neurosurgical Department, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgios K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Matis
authors.forename: Theodossios A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Birbilis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome