Sepsis-related organ failure assessment score, also known as sequential organ failure assessment score (SOFA score), is used to track a person's status during the stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) to determine the extent of a person's organ function or rate of failure. The score is based on six different scores, one each for the respiratory, cardiovascular, hepatic, coagulation, renal and neurological systems.
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Both the mean and highest SOFA scores are predictors of outcome. An increase in SOFA score during the first 24 to 48 hours in the ICU predicts a mortality rate of at least 50% up to 95%. Scores less than 9 give predictive mortality at 33% while above 11 can be close to or above 95%
The score tables below only describe points-giving conditions. In cases where the physiological parameters do not match any row, zero points are given. In cases where the physiological parameters match more than one row, the row with most points is picked.
SOFA assists health care providers in estimating the risk of morbidity and mortality due to sepsis, the most costly medical condition in the United States.
Cardiovascular system
(vasopressor drug doses are in µg/kg/min)
Drug abbreviations: dop for dopamine, dob for dobutamine, epi for epinephrine and nor for norepinephrine.
Liver
If bilirubin is less than 1.2, the score is 0
Coagulation
If platelet is more than 150 then score is 0
Quick SOFA Score
The Quick SOFA Score (quickSOFA or qSOFA) was introduced by the Sepsis-3 group in February 2016 as a simplified version of the SOFA Score as an initial way to identify patients at high risk for poor outcome with an infection. The SIRS Criteria definitions of sepsis are being replaced as they were found to possess too many limitations; the “current use of 2 or more SIRS criteria to identify sepsis was unanimously considered by the task force to be unhelpful.” The qSOFA simplifies the SOFA score drastically by only including its 3 clinical criteria and by including "any altered mentation" instead of requiring a GCS ≤13. qSOFA can easily and quickly be repeated serially on patients.
The score ranges from 0 to 3 points. The presence of 2 or more qSOFA points near the onset of infection was associated with a greater risk of death or prolonged intensive care unit stay. These are outcomes that are more common in infected patients who may be septic than those with uncomplicated infection. Based upon these findings, the Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis recommends qSOFA as a simple prompt to identify infected patients outside the ICU who are likely to be septic.