A Comparative Study of APACHE II and SOFA Scoring Systems in Critically Ill Patients with Sepsis

There are several well recognized scoring systems for evaluation and prognostication of critically ill patients. While the APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II) scoring system uses a point score based on physiologic parameters, age and previous health status, the SOFA (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) scoring system takes into account the organ failure in critically ill patients. In the assessment of critically ill patients with suspected multi-organ dysfunction admitted in ICU, the role of SOFA in predictive validity for in-hospital mortality is being widely discussed. The present study is undertaken to prognosticate the patients by using two different established and defined scoring systems like SOFA and APACHE II, and to make attempt to establish early diagnosis of sepsis by using SOFA scoring in 50 critically ill patients with suspected multi-organ dysfunction admitted over a period of one year. The results showed that serial measurement of SOFA score during first week is a very useful tool in predicting the outcome especially on the day 3. The APACHE II score on day of admission, though reliable, was not very effective in predicting the mortality rate in our set up.