title: The ability of two scoring systems to predict in-hospital mortality of patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries in a Moroccan intensive care unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aim to assess and to compare the predicting power for in-hospital mortality (IHM) of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation-II (APACHE-II) and the Simplified Acute Physiology Score-II (SAPS-II) for traumatic brain injury (TBI).
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective cohort study was conducted during a period of 2 years and 9 months in a Moroccan intensive care unit. Data were collected during the first 24 h of each admission. The clinical and laboratory parameters were analyzed and used as per each scoring system to calculate the scores. Univariate and multivariate analyses through regression logistic models were performed, to predict IHM after moderate and severe TBIs. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC), specificities and sensitivities were determined and also compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 225 patients were enrolled. The observed IHM was 51.5%. The univariate analysis showed that the initial Glasgow coma scale (GCS) was lower in nonsurviving patients (mean GCS = 6) than the survivors (mean GCS = 9) with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.0024). The APACHE-II and the SAPS-II of the nonsurviving patients were higher than those of the survivors (respectively 20.4 ± 6.8 and 31.2 ± 13.6 for nonsurvivors vs. 15.7 ± 5.4 and 22.7 ± 10.3 for survivors) with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.0032 for APACHE-II and P = 0.0045 for SAPS-II). Multivariate analysis: APACHE-II was superior for predicting IHM (AUROC = 0.92).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The APACHE-II is an interesting tool to predict IHM of head injury patients. This is particularly relevant in Morocco, where TBI is a greater public health problem than in many other countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, University-Hospital Mohammed VI, Medical School of Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: Hicham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nejmi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, University-Hospital Mohammed VI, Medical School of Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: Houssam
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rebahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, University-Hospital Mohammed VI, Medical School of Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ejlaidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, University-Hospital Mohammed VI, Medical School of Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: Taoufik
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abouelhassan
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, University-Hospital Mohammed VI, Medical School of Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mohamed Abdenasser
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Samkaoui
keywords: In-hospital mortality; prediction; traumatic brain injury