Cumulative Illness Rating Scale | Geriatric Patients CIRS(G)

 

Body systems evaluated:

(1) heart

(2) vascular

(3) hematopoietic

(4) respiratory

(5) EENT (eyes, ears, nose, throat, larynx)

(6) upper GI tract

(7) lower GI tract

(8) liver

(9) renal

(10) genito-urinary (ureters, bladder, urethra, prostate, genitals)

(11) musculoskeletal / integument

(12) neurological

(13) psychiatric illness

(14) endocrine / metabolic

 

Differences from the original CIRS:

(1) addition of hematopoietic item

(2) addition of breast to endocrine/metabolic

 

Degree of Severity	Points
no problem	0
mild current problem or past significant problem	1
moderate disability or morbidity; requires "first line" therapy	2
severe or constant significant disability; uncontrollable chronic problem	3
extremely severe (life threatening), end organ failure, severe impairment in function	4

 

total score =

= SUM(points for number of body systems evaluated)

 

severity index =

= (total score) / (number of body systems evaluated)

 

Additional tabulations:

(1) number of body systems with severity grade 3

(2) number of body systems with severity grade 4

 

Interpretation:

• minimum total score: 0

• maximum total score: 56

• minimum severity index: 0

• maximum severity index: 4

 

Performance:

• The scale showed good inter-rater reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients in range 0.78 to 0.88.

• The scale correlated with the physician's estimate of global disease burden. It also correlated with disability as measured with the Older Americans Activities of Daily Living Scale.

 

Limitations:

• It may be difficult to accurately convey the burden of multiple conditions by using a single index.

• A person could have multiple problems within a single body system. One way to handle this would be to move to a higher score if two or more conditions of similar magnitude are present.