When is the 'golden time' to apply the SOFA score in critically ill patients?

Multiple organ failure is the main cause of mortality in intensive care units (ICUs). Initial treatment is probably the most important step for critically ill patient outcome. Many scores have been proposed to assess organ dysfunction evolution and outcome. However, the ideal time to apply organ dysfunction scores has not been clearly established. We hypothesized that the SOFA score, when applied after initial treatment (24 hours later on), is more valuable than at the ICU admission to predict outcome in critically ill patients.