Falcão ALE, et al. - In this external validation study, researchers evaluated SOFA, SAP 3, and APACHE II index tests for their prognostic accuracy for intra-ICU and in-hospital mortalities as target conditions in patients admitted to ICU after urgent or elective surgeries, and evaluated whether they aid in decision-making. They found that index tests were found to discriminate regular for both target conditions with a poor calibration. A weak correlation between the observed and expected number of cases in several thresholds of risk, calculated by each model, for both tested outcomes was revealed upon calibration assessment. Overall, the authors concluded that the assessed ICU prognostic scores are adequate tools for intra-ICU and in-hospital mortality prediction in this patient population, and may have some clinical utility as an ancillary data to support decision-making processes regarding therapeutic investment and palliative care.