OBJECTIVE:A prospective study to compare the power of the Logistic Organ Dysfunction System (LODS) and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scoring systems to predict survival, in patients admitted to the neurological intensive care unit (NICU). METHODS: Clinical data from 521 consecutive NICU patients were collected during the first 24 h of admission and were used to compare the predictive power of both scoring systems. RESULTS: The observed mortality rate was 10.0% compared with predicted mortality rates of 7.2% and 4.8% according to LODS and APACHE II, respectively. Both scoring systems had excellent discrimination but LODS had superior calibration. CONCLUSION: The LODS scoring system was more stable than the APACHE II scoring system in the NICU setting.