Can a score derived from the Critical Care Minimum Data Set be used as a marker of organ dysfunction? - A pilot study

Background. The aim of this study was to develop a simple organ score derived from the Critical Care Minimum Data Set (CCMDS) to compare with the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, a previously validated score of organ dysfunction. Findings. The CCMDS collects data regarding the support of seven organ systems. To create a CCMDS derived score each level of organ support was allocated a numerical value. SOFA scores were collected retrospectively from each patient in the study. Data was collected in 50 sequential admissions over the first 5 days of their admission. This generated a total of 147 pairs of data for comparison. Scatter plots and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient suggest a weak positive association between our CCMDS-derived score and the SOFA score. Daily Bland-Altman plots reveal minimal bias between the score but wide limits of agreement. Conclusion. Our CCMDS-derived score cannot be regarded as an indicator of severity of organ dysfunction and cannot replace SOFA scores when a daily marker of organ dysfunction is required. © 2009 Felton et al.