Charlson Comorbidity Index
The Charlson co-morbidity index predicts the one-year mortality for patients with a range of co-morbid conditions. Each of 22 comorbidities is assigned a score of 1, 2, 3 or 6 depending on the risk of death. For example:
Myocardial infarct (1 point)
Chronic pulmonary diosease (1 point)
Moderate or severe renal disease (2 points)
Moderate or severe liver disease (3 points)
Metastatic solid tumour (6 points)
The sum of the score predicts mortality (this can be adjusted for age).
Reference
Charlson ME, Pompei P, Ales KL, MacKenzie CR. A new method of classifying prognostic comorbidity in longitudinal studies: development and validation. J. Chron. Dis. 1987; 40: 373-83.
