Exam

Charlson Comorbidity Index

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Charlson Comorbidity Index, Comorbidity-Adjusted Life Expectancy

  • Indication
  1. Assess whether a patient will live long enough to benefit from a specific screening measure or medical intervention
  • Scoring
  • Comorbidity Component (Apply 1 point to each unless otherwise noted)
  1. Myocardial Infarction
  2. Congestive Heart Failure
  3. Peripheral Vascular Disease
  4. Cerebrovascular Disease
  5. Dementia
  6. COPD
  7. Connective Tissue Disease
  8. Peptic Ulcer Disease
  9. Diabetes Mellitus (1 point uncomplicated, 2 points if end-organ damage)
  10. Moderate to Severe Chronic Kidney Disease (2 points)
  11. Hemiplegia (2 points)
  12. Leukemia (2 points)
  13. Malignant Lymphoma (2 points)
  14. Solid Tumor (2 points, 6 points if metastatic)
  15. Liver Disease (1 point mild, 3 points if moderate to severe)
  16. AIDS (6 points)
  • Scoring
  • Age
  1. Correction
    1. Corrected 7/2014 (based on 1996 paper)
    2. Age-based scoring starts at age 50 years (not age 40 years)
  2. Scoring
    1. Age <50 years: 0 points
    2. Age 50-59 years: 1 points
    3. Age 60-69 years: 2 points
    4. Age 70-79 years: 3 points
  • Interpretation
  1. Calculate Charlson Score or Index (i)
    1. Add Comorbidity score to age score
    2. Total denoted as 'i' below
  2. Calculate Charlson Probablity (10 year mortality)
    1. Calculate Y = e^(i * 0.9)
    2. Calculate Z = 0.983^Y
    3. where Z is the 10 year survival
  • References
  1. Charlson (1987) J Chron Dis 40: 373–83 [PubMed]
  2. Charlson (1994) J Clin Epidemiol 47(11): 1245–51 [PubMed]