[Use of the APACHE II scoring method for registering patients receiving intensive care at a central hospital]

The APACHE II scoring method was employed prospectively for registration of patients in intensive care in a central hospital. Scoring was performed in a total of 390 patients. Seventy-three patients (20.2%) of the patients died in hospital. A significant difference in the APACHE II score was found in the surviving patients (9 points) as compared with those who died (19 points). A significant linear connection was found between the frequency of death observed and the estimated risk of death in hospital. The APACHE II score could not be correlated to the number of bed-days in the intensive care unit but to the resources employed measured as the number of therapeutic procedures carried out. The APACHE II scoring method was found to be employable in the prognosis for survival as a control of quality, as a tool for description of the degree of severity of illness and as an indirect measurement of the resources required.