Comparison of Common Outcome Measures for Assessing Independence in Patients Diagnosed with Disorders of Consciousness: A Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems Study

Patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) after traumatic brain injury (TBI) recover to varying degrees of functional dependency. Dependency is difficult to measure but critical for interpreting clinical trial outcomes and prognostic counseling. In participants with DoC (i.e., not following commands) enrolled in the TBI Model Systems National Database (TBIMS NDB), we used the Functional Independence Measure (FIM (R)) as the reference to evaluate how accurately the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE) and Disability Rating Scale (DRS) assess dependency. Using the established FIM-dependency cut-point of <80, we measured the classification performance of literature-derived GOSE and DRS cut-points at 1-year post-injury. We compared the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) between the DRSDepend, a DRS-derived marker of dependency, and the data-derived optimal GOSE and DRS cut-points. Of 18,486 TBIMS participants, 1483 met inclusion criteria (mean [standard deviation (SD)] age = 38 [18] years; 76% male). The sensitivity of GOSE cut-points of <= 3 and <= 4 (Lower Severe and Upper Severe Disability, respectively) for identifying FIM-dependency were 97% and 98%, but specificities were 73% and 51%, respectively. The sensitivity of the DRS cut-point of >= 12 (Severe Disability) for identifying FIM-dependency was 60%, but specificity was 100%. The DRSDepend had a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 94% for classifying FIM-dependency, with a greater AUROC than the data-derived optimal GOSE (<= 3, p = 0.01) and DRS (>= 10, p = 0.008) cut-points. Commonly used GOSE and DRS cut-points have limited specificity or sensitivity for identifying functional dependency. The DRSDepend identifies FIM-dependency more accurately than the GOSE and DRS cut-points, but requires further validation.

Automated summary

This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of different assessment scales in measuring functional dependency in patients with disorders of consciousness. The results show that commonly used GOSE and DRS scales have limited specificity or sensitivity, while the DRSDepend scale is relatively more accurate but requires further validation.