[A simplified severity index in resuscitation. Validation by a prospective study (280 cases)]

The index studied (simplified acute physiology score, or SAPS) is calculated from 14 measurable clinical and laboratory data obtained during the first 24 hours from admission. It was tested in a prospective study involving 280 consecutive patients treated in a 16-bed intensive care unit. Good correlations were found between SAPS and mortality rate and between SAPS and the two most widely used scoring systems: the Knaus index or APS (acute physiology score) and the Cullen index or TISS (therapeutic intervention scoring system), both evaluating therapeutic effectiveness. SAPS data being easy to collect, the simplified index could be used in many intensive care units or even applied to old case-records. Its main value lies in comparisons between two groups of patients with the same death probability and in evaluations of activities in intensive care units.