correlation between the"glasgow coma scale" and "full outline of unresponsiveness" withphysiological indicatorsto determine altered level of consciousness in adult patients with brain damages admitted to intensive care unit 2013

background: glasgow coma scale is considered as the common measuring tool of consciousness level. however, its utilization has been criticized in some cases and the use of alternative tools for determining consciousness level is recommended. so, this study was conducted to analyze correlation between the instruments with physiological indicators for determining the altered level of consciousness in adult patients with brain damage. method : this study was descriptive - correlation and it was performed in the intensive care units (icu). the population was adult patients with brain damage who were hospitalized in icus. they were studied with simple method while selected by inclusion criteria. data were analyzed by spss 16. results : in the second hour after investigation, there was a significant correlation between systolic blood pressure and the two measures of glasgow coma scale (p=0.002) and full outline of unresponsiveness (p= 0.001). in addition, for 10 th and 12 th time points both measures had significant correlation (p≤0.001) with diastolic blood pressure. furthermore, at other time points the two measures significantly correlated with physiological indicators (systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, mean arterial pressure and respiratory rate) (p<0.001). heart rate had no significant relationship with the two instruments (p>0.05). there was a significant and positive relationship between glasgow coma scale and full outline of unresponsiveness at all time points (r>0.947, p<0.001). conclusions : the full outline of unresponsiveness was considered as preferred instrument for determining altered level of consciousness of patients with brain damage as a result of its higher correlation with physiological indicators for determining the altered level of  consciousness during the time.