Table 2.

Respondent selection of cardinal features of coma (N = 252 respondents)

	N, (%)	Fleiss κa
Absence of wakefulness	204 (81)	0.764
Glasgow Coma Score ≤ 8	161 (64)	0.588
Failure to respond purposefully to visual, verbal or tactile stimuli based on clinical exam	152 (60)	0.552
Inability to follow commands (excluding aphasic patients)	146 (58)	0.529
No eye-opening	134 (53)	0.482
No visual pursuit of objects, fixation or saccade to stimuli	123 (49)	0.440
No evidence of cognitive motor dissociation (i.e. the covert ability to follow commands) based on exam, neurophysiological studies or functional imaging	111 (44)	0.394
No intelligible speech or recognizable gesture	108 (43)	0.383

Question in the survey: In your opinion, which of the following are considered cardinal features of coma (i.e., must be present to establish the diagnosis)? (Click all that apply.)

^aFleiss ĸ defines the level of agreement for each variable among respondents (< 0 poor agreement, 0.01–0.20 slight agreement, 0.21–0.40 fair agreement, 0.41–0.60 moderate agreement, 0.61–0.80 substantial agreement, 0.81–1.00 almost perfect agreement)