Revised Baux score (burns)
Burn mortality index combining age, burn size and inhalation injury
Sources last checked: 2026-10-13
Revised Baux score (burns)
Burn mortality index combining age, burn size and inhalation injury
Osler converted the score to a probability with a logistic model (US National Burn Repository, ~39 900 patients) rather than fixed bands, so no cut-offs are shown here. Mortality at a given score falls over time with improving burn care; the number alone is not a basis for limiting treatment.
What is the Revised Baux score (burns)?
The revised Baux score adds age, percentage of body surface burned and 17 points for inhalation injury to give a burn mortality index. Osler, Glance and Hosmer published this revision in 2010, based on almost 40 000 patients from the US National Burn Repository. The original Baux score (age + % TBSA) dates from 1961.
When to use it
- Early estimation of burn severity and mortality risk
- Benchmarking burn units and stratifying patients in research
- Supporting — not replacing — senior discussion about goals of care
When not to use it
- As the sole basis for withholding or withdrawing treatment
- Children, in whom age contributes differently to mortality
How it is calculated
Revised Baux = age (years) + % TBSA burned + 17 × inhalation injury (1 = yes, 0 = no).
Clinical pearls and limitations
- Osler converted the score to a probability with a logistic model (US National Burn Repository, ~39 900 patients) rather than fixed bands, so no cut-offs are shown here. Mortality at a given score falls over time with improving burn care; the number alone is not a basis for limiting treatment.
- Inhalation injury adds the equivalent of 17 years of age or 17 % TBSA.
- Survival at a given score has improved over decades; a UK series found the original-Baux score at 50 % mortality around 110 in 2000–2008.
- TBSA should include only partial- and full-thickness burns.
Frequently asked questions
How is the revised Baux score calculated?
Age + % TBSA burned + 17 if there is inhalation injury.
What revised Baux score is fatal?
There is no fixed fatal cut-off in Osler's paper; mortality is estimated from a logistic model, and outcomes keep improving.
What is the difference between Baux and revised Baux?
The revised score adds 17 points for inhalation injury to the original age + TBSA.
Evidence and guidelines
- Primary source: Osler T, Glance LG, Hosmer DW. Simplified estimates of the probability of death after burn injuries: extending and updating the Baux score. J Trauma 2010;68(3):690-697.
- Roberts G et al. The Baux score is dead. Long live the Baux score: a 27-year retrospective cohort study of mortality at a regional burns service. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2012;72(1):251-256 (UK; original Baux score: Baux50 ≈ 110, point of futility ≈ 160 for 2000–2008).
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