What is the consequence of assigning injuries to too few body regions in ISS classification?

Assigning injuries to too few body regions in the Injury Severity Score (ISS) classification leads to an underestimation of the true severity of injuries sustained by a patient. The ISS is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of injury severity by evaluating multiple regions of the body. Each region is scored based on the most serious injury, and these scores are then squared and summed. When injuries are only categorized into a limited number of regions, significant injuries that could affect the overall severity score may be omitted. This results in a lower ISS, failing to reflect the actual trauma experienced by the patient, which can have implications for treatment decisions and resource allocation in clinical settings. An accurate assessment requires a thorough and complete categorization of all injuries across relevant body regions, making comprehensive evaluation critical in trauma care.