Beyond mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injury: modelling severity from clinical, neuroimaging, and blood-based indicators.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The conventional clinical approach to characterising traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) as mild, moderate, or severe using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) total score has well-known limitations, prompting calls for more sophisticated strategies.

Methods

We used item response theory (IRT) to develop a new method for quantifying TBI severity using 24 clinical, head computed tomography, and blood-based biomarker variables familiar to clinicians and researchers. IRT uses individuals' response patterns across indicators to estimate relationships between the indicators and a latent continuum of TBI severity. Model parameters were used to assign severity scores in two large cohorts, and associations with traditional GCS categories and 6-month functional outcomes (Glasgow Outco

SUBMITTER: Nelson LD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12637077 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature