title: The Glasgow Outcome at Discharge Scale: an inpatient assessment of disability after brain injury.
abstract: This study assesses the validity and reliability of the Glasgow Outcome at Discharge Scale (GODS), which is a tool that is designed to assess disability after brain injury in an inpatient setting. It is derived from the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOS-E), which assesses disability in the community after brain injury. Inter-rater reliability on the GODS is high (quadratic-weighted kappa 0.982; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.968, 0.996) as is concurrent validity with the Disability Rating Scale (DRS) (Spearman correlation -0.728; 95% CI -0.819, -0.601). The GODS is significantly associated with physical and fatigue subscales of the short form (SF)-36 in hospital. In terms of predictive validity the GODS is highly associated with the GOS-E after discharge (Spearman correlation 0.512; 95% CI 0.281, 0.687), with the DRS, and with physical, fatigue, and social subscales of the SF-36. The GODS is recommended as an assessment tool for disability after brain injury pre-discharge and can be used in conjunction with the GOS-E to monitor disability between hospital and the community.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom. thomas.mcmillan@glasgow.ac.uk
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Weir
authors.forename: Alaister
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ireland
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D023261:Glasgow Outcome Scale; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult