168 articles
Abbreviated Injury Scale
The Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) is an anatomical coding system that grades each individual injury from 1 (minor) to 6 (maximal) across nine body regions.
Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale
The Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) is a 12-item clinician-rated scale scoring the severity of abnormal involuntary movements, chiefly tardive dyskinesia, in patients taking antipsychotic medications.
Activities of daily living
Activities of daily living (ADLs) are basic self-care tasks like bathing and eating, with instrumental ADLs covering shopping and finances; measured by scales such as Katz, Barthel, and Lawton-Brody.
Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination
Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE, ACE-R, ACE-III, mini-ACE): 100-point bedside cognitive screening battery from Cambridge, designed to detect mild dementia and differentiate Alzheimer's disease from frontotemporal dementia, with five domains and free availability.
Alberta Infant Motor Scale
The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) is a norm-referenced observational assessment of gross motor development in infants, used to identify motor delays and preterm risk.
ALBI score
The ALBI score (Albumin-Bilirubin grade) is an objective measure of liver function in hepatocellular carcinoma that combines serum albumin and bilirubin into a single prognostic grade, replacing subjective Child-Pugh components.
Albumin–bilirubin score
The albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) score is an objective measure of liver function combining serum albumin and bilirubin, used to assess prognosis and guide treatment in chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Allred score
The Allred score is a histopathological scoring method for estrogen and progesterone receptor status in breast cancer, combining staining proportion and intensity into a total from 0 to 8.
Alvarado score
The Alvarado score, also known as MANTRELS, is a 10-point clinical scoring system introduced by Alfredo Alvarado in 1986 to estimate the probability of acute appendicitis.
Apgar score
Apgar score: rapid 0-10 newborn assessment devised by Virginia Apgar in 1952, scoring color, heart rate, reflexes, tone, and respiration at 1 and 5 minutes; not a predictor of individual outcome or asphyxia diagnosis.
Asthma Control Test
The Asthma Control Test is a five-item patient questionnaire scoring asthma control over the past four weeks, from 5 to 25, with 19 or less indicating poor control.
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score
An atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score is a clinical tool estimating 10-year and lifetime risk of heart attack or stroke, used chiefly to guide statin therapy.
Autopsy
Autopsy (post-mortem examination, necropsy): medical examination of a body after death by a pathologist. Two types, forensic (legally ordered) and clinical (hospital, consent-based); determines cause and manner of death, audits diagnoses, rates now under 10%.
Barthel index
The Barthel index (BI) is a clinical scale scoring a patient's independence in ten basic activities of daily living, from 0 to 100, used in rehabilitation and geriatric medicine.
Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index
The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) is a six-item patient questionnaire measuring disease activity in axial spondyloarthritis, scored 0 to 10, developed in Bath, England.
Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index
The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) is a ten-question, patient-completed questionnaire measuring functional ability in ankylosing spondylitis, scored 0 to 10 with higher scores meaning more severe limitation.
Berg Balance Scale
The Berg Balance Scale is a 14-item clinical test that scores functional balance tasks from 0 to 56 to quantify fall risk and track rehabilitation progress.
Bethesda system
The Bethesda system is a standardized category-based terminology for reporting cytology results, created for cervical (Pap) tests in 1988 and extended to thyroid fine-needle aspiration in 2009.
Biophysical profile
The biophysical profile, or fetal biophysical profile, is a prenatal surveillance test combining ultrasound with a nonstress test, scoring five fetal variables for a total of 0 to 10.
Bishop score
Bishop score (cervix score, pelvic score): 0-13 digital cervical assessment of dilation, effacement, station, consistency, and position, devised by Edward Bishop in 1964 to predict labor induction success; simplified and modified variants exist.
Braak staging
Braak staging is a postmortem neuropathological method that grades Alzheimer's disease progression by the anatomical spread of tau tangles, assigning autopsy brains to six stages, I–VI.
Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale
The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is a five-level triage system used in emergency departments, assigning each patient an acuity level from resuscitation to non-urgent.
Cancer staging
Cancer staging, chiefly the UICC/AJCC TNM system (Tumor, Nodes, Metastases), classifies cancer extent by primary tumor, lymph nodes, and metastasis; developed by Pierre Denoix 1943–1952, now in its 9th edition effective 1 January 2026.
Cause of death
Cause of death: the WHO-certified medical and statistical determination of why a person died. Covers immediate, underlying, and contributory causes, ICD-10/ICD-11 coding, death certificate accuracy, leading causes, and verbal autopsy.
Centor criteria
Centor criteria: 1981 four-item clinical prediction rule (fever, tonsillar exudates, tender anterior cervical nodes, no cough) estimating group A streptococcal pharyngitis probability in sore throat; McIsaac adds age adjustment; guides testing and antibiotic decisions.
Charlson comorbidity index
The Charlson comorbidity index is a weighted clinical score of 19 comorbid conditions predicting mortality, reported by Mary Charlson and colleagues in 1987 and widely used in research.
Child–Pugh score
The Child–Pugh score, also called Child–Turcotte-Pugh, grades liver cirrhosis severity from 5 to 15 points across five parameters, giving classes A, B, and C used for prognosis and drug dosing.
CILP study
Child and Infant Learning Project (CILP), NCT00077831: Seattle Children's Hospital longitudinal study led by Matt Speltz on cognitive and motor development in single-suture craniosynostosis, with 125 matched case-control pairs showing presurgery delays.
Clinical Dementia Rating
The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) is a clinician-rated scale that stages dementia severity from normal to severe across six cognitive and functional domains, introduced in 1982.
Clinical Frailty Scale
The Clinical Frailty Scale is a 9-point bedside tool grading an older adult's frailty from very fit to terminally ill, developed in Canada and used in over 20 countries.