For educational use. This tool is intended for reference and education. All care decisions require a direct clinical assessment of the patient and independent verification of doses and values by the treating team. The calculation runs locally in your browser, no patient data is sent to any server.

Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS)

For adolescents and adults. Used in oncology trials, in the assessment of surgical eligibility, and in outcome follow-up.

%Description
100Normal; no complaints; no evidence of disease
90Able to carry on normal activity; minor symptoms
80Normal activity with effort; some symptoms
70Cares for self; unable to carry on normal activity or work
60Requires occasional assistance; cares for most needs
50Requires considerable assistance and frequent medical care
40Disabled; requires special care and assistance
30Severely disabled; hospitalization indicated
20Very sick; active supportive treatment necessary
10Moribund; fatal processes progressing rapidly
0Dead
Original description of the scale: Karnofsky DA, Burchenal JH. The clinical evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer (the paper in which the Karnofsky Performance Status was first described). In: MacLeod CM (ed), Evaluation of Chemotherapeutic Agents. Columbia University Press, New York, 1949:191–205. (pre-PubMed – no link)
Reliability, validity & guidelines: Schag CC, Heinrich RL, Ganz PA. Karnofsky performance status revisited: reliability, validity, and guidelines. J Clin Oncol 1984;2(3):187–93. PMID 6699671 · doi:10.1200/JCO.1984.2.3.187