Scoring systems in trauma

Background Trauma is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Me thods of assessing outcome have evolved with management of trauma victims. Results and Discussion The wide variety of scoring instruments available to assess the injured patient may be divided into three groups: anatomical, p hysiological and combined systems. Anatomical systems depend on an accurate description of the injuries sustained. Physiological systems measure the e ffects of injury on the patient's physiological reserves. Combined systems contain elements of both anatomical and physiological scores. Prospectively , scoring systems help in description, triage, treatment decisions and esti mating outcome. Retrospective scoring is helpful in audit, in quality contr ol, in comparing treatment methods or centres, and in identifying unexpecte d outcomes. Limitations may be inherent in the system or may reflect inaccu rate or incomplete data collection.