Glasgow-Blatchford Score: Spreadsheet Points and Unit Checks

A numerical worksheet, not a discharge decision

The Glasgow-Blatchford score uses clinical measurements and findings in the assessment of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. This spreadsheet teaches its point arithmetic with fictional data. It does not predict an individual outcome or establish that discharge, admission or endoscopy is appropriate.

Clinical disposition requires assessment and an applicable care pathway. Vomiting blood, black tarry stools or fainting with suspected bleeding require urgent medical assessment, not a spreadsheet result.

Use the stated units and assessed findings

B2 is blood urea in mmol/L, not BUN in mg/dL. B3 is hemoglobin in g/L, not g/dL. For example, 14.2 g/dL is 142 g/L. Do not paste a number from a differently labeled laboratory field without converting the correct analyte and unit.

B4 is systolic pressure in mmHg. B5:B9 are assessed numeric 0/1 flags: pulse at least 100/min, melena, syncope, hepatic disease and cardiac failure. They are not raw pulse values. Unknown inputs remain blank and block calculation.

B10 explicitly selects the published hemoglobin threshold set: M or F. This example does not infer the appropriate set for an individual; that requires clinical judgment. Numeric bounds catch negative or missing data, but cannot detect a plausible number entered in the wrong unit.

Inspect each point contribution

The workbook provides separate urea, hemoglobin and pressure contributions in E2:E4 and the weighted flag contribution in E5. This makes threshold transitions visible. The final total is in E6.

Urea contributes 0,2,3,4 or6 points; the two hemoglobin sets differ between100 and130g/L. The pressure contribution is0–3 points. Pulse and melena each contribute1; syncope, hepatic disease and cardiac failure each contribute2.

=IF(COUNT(B2:B9)<>8,"Complete numeric inputs",IF(OR(B2<0,B3<=0,B4<=0,AND(B5<>0,B5<>1),AND(B6<>0,B6<>1),AND(B7<>0,B7<>1),AND(B8<>0,B8<>1),AND(B9<>0,B9<>1)),"Invalid measurement or flag",IF(AND(B10<>"M",B10<>"F"),"Choose M or F threshold set",IFS(B2<6.5,0,B2<8,2,B2<10,3,B2<25,4,TRUE,6)+IF(B10="M",IFS(B3>=130,0,B3>=120,1,B3>=100,3,TRUE,6),IFS(B3>=120,0,B3>=100,1,TRUE,6))+IFS(B4>=110,0,B4>=100,1,B4>=90,2,TRUE,3)+B5+B6+2*B7+2*B8+2*B9)))

Try boundary values

Start with urea5, hemoglobin142, pressure122 and zero flags: total0. Change urea to9, hemoglobin112, pressure104, pulse and melena flags to1: total9 with M, or7 with F.

Try values immediately below and exactly at each threshold; do not round measurements before classifying them. Setting every maximum-scoring component gives23. The same total can arise from different component combinations, so retain the source inputs.

Further reading

• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde — Glasgow Blatchford score