Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35220682›Full record

ArticleEmergency medicine Australasia : EMA2022

An initial Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or less does not define severe brain injury.

Mark Fitzgerald, Terence Tan, Jeffrey V Rosenfeld, Michael Noonan, Jin Tee, Evan Ng, Joseph Mathew, Shane Broderick, Yesul Kim, Christopher Groombridge and 2 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Resting-state EEG for continuous prognostic monitoring and prediction of coma recovery after acute brain injury.Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026
    Article
  2. Observational
  3. Papilledema in Traumatic Brain Injury.Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Mark FitzgeraldNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-0183-7761
Terence TanNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Jeffrey V RosenfeldDepartment of Surgery, Alfred Hospital, Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Michael NoonanNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Jin TeeTrauma Service, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Evan NgTrauma Service, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Joseph MathewNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Shane BroderickNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Yesul KimNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Christopher GroombridgeNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Andrew UdyDepartment of Intensive Care and Hyperbaric Medicine, The Alfred, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Biswadev MitraNational Trauma Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-0508-2450
The Alfred Hospital · AUMonash Alfred Psychiatry Research centre · AUNational Trauma Research Institute · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The wide-spread use of an initial 'Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) 8 or less' to define and dichotomise 'severe' from 'mild' or 'moderate' traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an out-dated research heuristic that has become an epidemiological convenience transfixing clinical care. Triaging based on GCS can delay the care of patients who have rapidly evolving injuries. Sole reliance on the initial GCS can therefore provide a false sense of security to caregivers and fail to provide timely care for patients presenting with GCS greater than 8. Nearly 50 years after the development of the GCS - and the resultant misplaced clinical and statistical definitions - TBI remains a heterogeneous entity, in which 'best practice' and 'prognoses' are poorly stratified by GCS alone. There is an urgent need for a paradigm shift towards more effective initial assessment of TBI.

Indexed as

Brain Injuries, TraumaticGlasgow Coma ScaleHumansPrognosisTriageacute brain injuryGlasgow Coma Scaletriage

Identifiers

PMID35220682
PMCPMC9303457
OpenAlexW4214567348

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.