Gastrointestinal failure score alone and in combination with SOFA score in the assessment of the critically ill patients

Abstract

Gastrointestinal problems occur frequently and are associated with an adverse outcome in critically ill patients; despite this, gastrointestinal (GI) function is not included in any of the widely used scoring systems assessing organ failures in critical illness. Several studies have demonstrated an impact of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) on mortality [1]. With the goal of developing a scoring system for GI failure, Reintam and colleagues combined GI symptoms and IAH into a five-grade scale - the Gastrointestinal Failure Score - and tested it among critically ill patients in Estonian ICUs [2]. The aim of our study was to evaluate the GIF score in our Egyptian ICUs regarding validity and impact on mortality and comparing this with the SOFA score.