APACHE II: a severity of disease classification system

Crit Care Med. 1985 Oct;13(10):818-29.

Abstract

This paper presents the form and validation results of APACHE II, a severity of disease classification system. APACHE II uses a point score based upon initial values of 12 routine physiologic measurements, age, and previous health status to provide a general measure of severity of disease. An increasing score (range 0 to 71) was closely correlated with the subsequent risk of hospital death for 5815 intensive care admissions from 13 hospitals. This relationship was also found for many common diseases. When APACHE II scores are combined with an accurate description of disease, they can prognostically stratify acutely ill patients and assist investigators comparing the success of new or differing forms of therapy. This scoring index can be used to evaluate the use of hospital resources and compare the efficacy of intensive care in different hospitals or over time.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Chronic Disease
  • Coronary Artery Bypass / mortality
  • Costs and Cost Analysis*
  • Critical Care / methods*
  • Diagnosis-Related Groups*
  • Disease / classification*
  • Disease / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Admission
  • Prognosis
  • Risk
  • Surgical Procedures, Operative / mortality

Grants and funding