A Glasgow Coma Scale of 12 generally indicates which level of impairment?

• A. Mild impairment
• B. Severe impairment
• C. No impairment
• D. Moderate impairment

Answer: (D)

A patient with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 12 is described as having moderate impairment. The GCS sums three components—eye opening, verbal response, and motor response—ranging from 3 to 15, with higher scores indicating better consciousness. A score of 12 means there is some level of decreased consciousness, but not a deep coma. For example, a patient might open their eyes to speech (eye opening score around 3), have confused or disorganized verbal responses (verbal score around 4), and withdraw from pain or localize a response (motor score around 5), which together total 12. This sits squarely in the moderate impairment range, which is defined as 9–12. By contrast, mild impairment would be 13–15, and no impairment is a perfect 15, while severe impairment falls in 3–8. Serial scoring helps monitor whether the impairment is improving or worsening.