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Classification of traumatic brain injury (TBI) severity guides management and contributes to determination of prognosis. Common indicators of TBI severity include Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, length of coma (LOC) and duration of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA).

To compare GCS, LOC and PTA by examining distributions and intercorrelations and develop multivariable linear regression models for estimating LOC and PTA duration.

Prospective study of 519 of 614 consecutive patients with TBI. Indices of TBI severity studied were GCS, LOC, PTA and PTA–LOC (the interval from return of command-following to return of orientation). Candidate predictor variables for estimation of LOC, PTA and PTA–LOC intervals were age, years of education, year of injury (before 1997 vs 1997 or later), GCS, LOC (for PTA and PTA–LOC), pupillary responsiveness, type of injury, CT pathology and …