The abbreviated injury scale (ais) and the injury severity score(iss) are objective means of assessing injury. Accepted methodologyinvolves retrospective scoring of injury based on discharge diagnoses. Recently, early clinical scoring, supplemented by review of discharge, has been introduced. A prospective study was instituted to compare these methodologies. Four hundred sixty consecutive victims ofblunt trauma were scored using both clinical and retrospective methodologies by independent, blinded observers. Of these, 333 patients had a change in iss, 174 with a change of greater than four points. The population mean iss remained unchanged; however, paired values were significantly different. We conclude that either methodology is applicable for studies of large populations of trauma victims. When accurate individual ais or iss scoring is required, the clinical method combined with discharge review is most appropriate. This paper was presented at the 32nd annual meeting of the association for the advancement of automotive medicine, seattle, washington, september 12-14 1988, but was not published in the proceedings.
Samenvatting