Full Outline of UnResponsiveness score and Glasgow Coma
Scale in medical patients with altered sensorium: Interrater
reliability and relation to outcome
Arunodaya R. Gujjar MBBS, DM
a,
⁎
, Poovathru C. Jacob MD
a
,
R. Nandhagopal MBBS, DM
a
, S.S. Ganguly PhD
b
, Ammar Obaidy MD
a
,
Abdullah R. Al-Asmi MRCP(C)
a
a
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman
b
Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University,
Muscat, Oman
Keywords:
Coma;
Coma score;
Full Outline of
Unresponsiveness;
FOUR score;
Glasgow Coma Scale;
SOFA score
Abstract
Purpose: Full Outline of UnResponsiveness, or FOUR score (FS), is a recently described scoring
system for evaluation of altered sensorium. This study examined interrater reliability for FS and
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) among medical patients with altered mental status and compared outcome
predictability of GCS, FS, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score.
Patients and Methods: Adult patients with altered mental status due to medical causes were rated by
neurology consultants and internal medicine residents on FS and GCS. Interobserver reliability for GCS
and FS was assessed using κ score. Relation with outcomes was explored using univariate and
multivariate analyses.
Main Results: Of the 100 patients (age, 62 ± 17 years), 60 had neurologic conditions; 26, metabolic
encephalopathy; 9, infections; and 7, others. Thirty-nine patients died at 3 months. κ Scores ranged
from 0.71 to 0.85 for GCS and from 0.71 to 0.95 for FS. On multivariate analysis, GCS was predictive
of outcome at 3 months; FS was predictive of mortality. Area under the receiver operating characteristic
curves suggested equivalent performance of both scoring systems.
Conclusions: Interrater reliability and outcome predictability for FS were comparable with those for
GCS. This study supports the use of FS for evaluation of altered mental status in the medical wards.
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Assessment of level of consciousness is an important part
of clinical neurologic assessment. Glasgow Coma Scale
(GCS) has been the most widely used scale for assessment of
sensorium [1]. Earlier studies have shown reasonable
⁎
Corresponding author. Department of Medicine (Neurology), College
of Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 35, PC 123, Muscat,
Oman. Fax: + 968 24121198.
E-mail address: grarunoday@hotmail.com (A.R. Gujjar).
0883-9441/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2012.06.009
Journal of Critical Care (2013) 28, 316.e1–316.e8