Head injury predictor scales

1. What is the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS)? How many categories are there?
2. What are the disadvantages of the GOS?
3. What is the Disability Rating Scale (DRS)?
4. What are the advantages of using the DRS over the GOS?
5. What is the Rancho Los Amigos Levels of cognitive function scale?

Answers:
1. The GOS is a 5 point scale rating outcome after brain injury: 1 is death, 2 is persistent VS, 3 is severe disability, 4 is moderate disability, 5 is good recovery. There's a correlation between GOS score at 6 and 12 months and outcome.
2. Categories are broad, scale not sensitive enough, not real indicator of functional abilities.
3. The DRS is a 30 point scale addressing 8 areas: eye opening, verbalization/communication, motor responsiveness, feeding, toileting, grooming, overall functioning independence, employability.
4. The DRS provides a quantitative index of disability that is more sensitive to clinical changes than GOS. It was developed specifically for disability.
5. This is an eight-level global scale focused on both cognition and behavior after TBI. It has a lower validity and reliability than the DRS.