Should the pre-sedation Glasgow Coma Scale value be used when calculating Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation scores for sedated patients?

Abstract

The GCS is an important component of both APACHE II and APACHE III. It should be assessed directly whenever possible. When patients are sedated, using the GCS score recorded before sedation is preferable to the assumption of normality. The variations between different units and different diagnostic groups highlight the possible effects of case mix on the performance of prognostic scoring systems.