ORIGINAL ARTICLE Validation of SAPS3 admission score and its customization for use in Korean intensive care unit patients: A prospective multicentre study SO Y EON LIM, 1 SHIN OK KOH, 2 KYEONGMAN JEON, 1,3 SUNGWON NA, 2 CHAE-MAN LIM, 4 WON-IL CHOI, 5 Y OUNG-JOO LEE, 6 SEOK CHAN KIM, 7 GYU RAK CHON, 8 JE HYEONG KIM, 9 JAE Y EOL KIM, 10 JAEMIN LIM, 11 CHIN KOOK RHEE, 7 SUNGHOON PARK, 12 HO CHEOL KIM, 13 JIN HWA LEE, 14 JI HYUN LEE, 15 JISOOK PARK, 16 Y OUNSUCK KOH, 4 GEE Y OUNG SUH, 1,3 The Validation of Simplified acute physiology score 3 in Korean Intensive care unit (VSKI) study group* AND THE Korean Study group on Respiratory Failure (KOSREF) 1 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, 2 Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, and Anesthesia and Pain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 3 Department of Critical Care Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, 4 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, 5 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Dongsan Hospital, Keimyung University, Daegu, 6 Department of Anesthesiology, Aju University College of Medicine, Suwon, 7 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, 8 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Chungju Hospital, School of Medicine of Konkuk University, Chungju, 9 Division of Pulmonary, Sleep and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, 10 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, 11 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Gangneung Asan Hospital, University of Ulsan Medical College of Medicine, Gangneung, 12 Department of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, 13 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Gyeongsang Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 14 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, 15 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Bundang CHA hospital CHA university, Seongnam, and 16 Department of Multimedia, Seoul Women’s University, Seoul, Korea ABSTRACT Background and objective: To externally validate the simplified acute physiology score 3 (SAPS3) and to cus- tomize it for use in Korean intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Correspondence: Gee Young Suh, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine and Department of Critical Care Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunk- wan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 135-710, South Korea, Phone: (+82)2-3410-3426, Fax: (+82)2-3410-6956, E-mail: suhgy@skku.edu *The members of VSKI are as follows: Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine (Gee Young Suh, So Yeon Lim, Kyeongman Jeon, Chi Min Park), Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine (Youn- suck Koh, Chae-Man Lim, Sang-Bum Hong, Jin Won Huh, Suk Kyung Hong), Yonsei University College of Medicine (Shin Ok Koh, Sungwon Na), Keimyung University, Dongsan Hospital (Won-Il Choi), Ajou University College of Medicine (Young-Joo Lee, Kwang Joo Park), Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic Uni- versity of Korea (Seok Chan Kim, Chin Kook Rhee, Chan Kwon Park), Chungju Hospital, School of Medicine of Konkuk University (Gyu Rak Chon, Ick Hee Kim), Korea University Ansan Hospital (Je Hyeong Kim), Chung-Ang University College of Medicine (Jae Yeol Kim), Gangneung Asan Hospital, Gangneung, University of Ulsan Medical College of Medicine (Jaemin Lim), Hallym Univer- sity Sacred Heart Hospital (Sunghoon Park), Gyeongsang Insti- tute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University (Ho Cheol Kim), Ewha Womans University School of Medicine (Jin Hwa Lee), Bundang CHA Hospital CHA University (Ji Hyun Lee), Seoul Women’s University (Jisook Park) and Inha University College of Medicine (Jae Hwa Cho). Received 21 July 2012; invited to revise 10 September and 6 December 2012; revised 27 October and 31 December 2012; accepted 22 January 2013 (Associate Editor: David Feller- Kopman). SUMMARY AT A GLANCE We investigated to validate the simplified acute physiology score 3 (SAPS3) and to customize it in Korean ICUs. General and Australasia SAPS3 showed poor calibration, but the prognostic power was improved by customization. Prediction models should be customized before being used to predict mortality in different regions. © 2013 The Authors Respirology © 2013 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology Respirology (2013) 18, 989–995 doi: 10.1111/resp.12115