What occurs when injuries are assigned to too many body regions in the ISS?

When injuries are assigned to too many body regions in the Injury Severity Scale (ISS), the result is an overestimation of ISS. The ISS is designed to reflect the severity of injuries by assigning scores based on the most severely injured body regions. Each region has a specific scoring range, and the highest score from each of the three most severely injured body regions is summed to generate the ISS.

If injuries are improperly assigned to excessive body regions, this can lead to an inflated total score because minor injuries might unnecessarily increase the number of regions considered rather than concentrating on the most critical injuries. Consequently, the total score does not accurately reflect the actual severity of the injuries sustained. It skews the assessment, thus leading to an overestimation of the patient's injury severity. Accurate trauma assessment relies on focusing on the most severe injuries and not diluting the scoring by including numerous lesser injuries across a wide range of body regions.