All About Nursing · Hospice & Palliative Care · Uncategorized

What is KPS: Karnofsky Performance Status

The Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) index designed in the late 1940s as an adjunctive tool to evaluate the activity levels of patients with cancer who were participating in cancer chemotherapy trials.

The KPS assessing ambulation, self care ability, activity level, and evidence of disease, is described as follows: (Measures of performance status for patients with malignant disease)

100- Normal, no complaints or evidence of disease

90- Able to carry on normal activity, minor disease symptoms

80- Normal activity with effort, some disease symptoms

70- Cares of self; unable to do normal activity or work

60- Requires occasional assistance, able to care for most needs

50- Requires considerable assistance and frequent medical care

40- Disable, requires special care and assistance

30- Severely disabled, death not imminent

20- Very ill, active care and attention required continuously

10- Moribund

0- Death

Leave a Reply