Glasgow Coma Scale : An useful predictor of mortality at the onset of acute stroke patients

Physicians are often facing the task of predicting the immediate and long-term outcome in stroke patients. Early predictor of mortality and poor outcome are crucial for planning the level of care and optimizing resource utilization. The performance of Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) in prediction of mortality of acute stroke patients was investigated. During the study period every patient admitted to Medicine and Neuro-medicine wards for cerebral infarction (CI) or intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), were included consecutively in this study. Data for GCS was recorded, follow up and mortality at 7 days and 28 days was determined. Total GCS were labeled into three groups (I, II, III). Prognosis of patients in 7-day and 28-day of 3 groups was tested by chi square (x2) test. On the basis of CT scan finding, one-week case fatality of ICH and CI was 44.8% and 36.4% respectively. Four-week case fatality of ICH and CI was 56.7% and 42.4% respectively. This study shows, GCS is a valuable tool for prediction of short-term mortality in acute stroke patients. The less the GCS score at the onset of acute stroke the more is mortality.