3D-CAM-S — 3D-CAM Severity Score

What this tool is and how to interpret its evidence

3D-CAM-S is a method for grading delirium severity from information already obtained during a 3D-CAM assessment. It produces a total from 0 to 7 and is designed to add a longitudinal severity measure without requiring a second patient interview. It should be distinguished from the parent 3D-CAM diagnostic classification and from the broader CAM-S family.

Vasunilashorn and colleagues derived the score in 377 older surgical patients and tested it in a held-out validation sample of 189. Agreement with the CAM-S short form was very high, and the severity values were associated with clinically important outcomes. This is strong internal development and validation, but both datasets came from the same underlying SAGES cohort. Independent validation in different settings and populations remains more limited than the evidence available for the parent 3D-CAM.

The page should identify 3D-CAM-S as a severity version and exclude it from the independent family count. It can state the 0-to-7 range, derivation design, agreement findings and intended monitoring role. It should not reproduce the feature-level scoring procedure, source figure or assessment prompts. The exact method depends on authorised 3D-CAM content and should be obtained from the publication and instrument source. A severity score does not independently confirm delirium and must be interpreted alongside the underlying assessment and clinical context.