The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Score: has the time come for an update?

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Rui Moreno, Universidade de Lisboa; Andrew Rhodes, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Lise Piquilloud, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois; Glenn Hernandez, Facultad de Medicina; Jukka Takala, University Hospital Bern; Hayley B. Gershengorn, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine; Miguel Tavares, Hospital Geral de Santo António; Craig Coopersmith, Emory University; Sheila N. Myatra, Tata Memorial Hospital; Mervyn Singer, UCL Division of Medicine; Ederlon Rezende, Hospital do Servidor Publico Estadual; Hallie C. Prescott, University of Michigan Medical School; Marcio Soares, Instituto D'Or de Pesquisa e Ensino; Jean-Francois Timsit, Hôpital Bichat-Claude-Bernard AP-HP; Dylan W. de Lange, University Medical Center Utrecht; Christian Jung, Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf; Jan J. De Waele, Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent; Gregory Martin, Emory University; Charlotte Summers, University of Cambridge; Elie Azoulay, Famirea Study Group; Tomoko Fujii, Jikei University Hospital; Anthony S. McLean, Nepean Hospital; Jean-Louis Vincent, Hôpital Erasme
• Language: English
• Date: 2023-12-01
• Publisher: BMC
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2023
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13054-022-04290-9
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Critical Care
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 15
• End Page: 15
• Grant/Funding Information: No external funding.; JJDW is supported by a Senior Clinical Investigator Grant from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Ref. 1881020N).
• Keywords: Critical Illness; Prognosis; Humans; Organ Dysfunction Scores; Multiple Organ Failure
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score was developed more than 25 years ago to provide a simple method of assessing and monitoring organ dysfunction in critically ill patients. Changes in clinical practice over the last few decades, with new interventions and a greater focus on non-invasive monitoring systems, mean it is time to update the SOFA score. As a first step in this process, we propose some possible new variables that could be included in a SOFA 2.0. By so doing, we hope to stimulate debate and discussion to move toward a new, properly validated score that will be fit for modern practice.