[Scoring systems for assessing illness severity and predicting outcome in very low birth weight infants]

The very low gestational age (VLGA) and birth weight (VLBW) in newborns and the related morbidities are one of the main causes of death in the neonatal period and during the first year of life. In the last two decades a number of neonatal scores for assessing the illness severity and the initial risk were developed. They are applied for different goals: to predict the risk of death and serious morbidity, to assure a more accurate evaluation of results between different NICU's, as a reliable basis for randomization of the patients in multicenter and longitudinal studies, for comparison of the effect when new therapeutic strategies are used. In this review we overview and discuss the most often used scoring systems for assessing of illness severity in VLBW infants: CRIB, SNAP, SNAPPE and their updates, NTISS, Berliner score, and some graphical models for predicting survival. In comparison to birth weight or gestational age alone they are more reliable tools for assessing the risk and comparing the results.