CRB-65 rule for predicting the severity of pneumonia
Citation: McNally M, Curtain J, O’Brien KK, et al. Validity of British Thoracic Society guidance (the CRB-65 rule) for predicting the severity of pneumonia in general practice: systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of General Practice 2010; 60(579): e423-33
What is this? Some patients with COVID-19 will develop pneumonia. Existing research on the use of the CRB-65 rule to predict the severity of community-acquired pneumonia may provide information to help healthcare providers with this.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for cohort studies evaluating the validity of the CRB-65 rule as a predictor of 30-day mortality in adults, in both hospital and community settings. They did their most recent search in June 2009. They included 14 studies (397,875 patients).
What was found: In hospital settings, CRB-65 performs well in stratifying patients on the basis of the severity of their pneumonia and their 30-day mortality.
In community settings, CRB-65 appears to over-predict the probability of 30-day mortality across all strata of predicted risk, so caution is needed when applying CRB-65 to patients in general practice.
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