ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical application value of modified CURB-65 score for assessing severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in emergency patients.Methods During the period from May 2011 to May 2012,198 emergency patients with CAP enrolled in this study were evaluated by CURB-65 score and modified CURB-65 score,respectively.Based on the severity of CAP,patients were divided into mild pneumonia group (Group A,n =107) and severe pneumonia group (Group B,n =91).The clinical status and biomarkers (the white blood cell count,procalcitonin,pneumonia severity index,hospitalization days,and hospitalization expenses) were recorded and compared with t test.Group B was divided into survived-subgroup (n =62) and death-subgroup (n =29).The differences in CURB-65 score and modified CURB-65 scere between the two groups were compared with t test.The correlation of CURB-65 score and modified CURB-65 score with procalcitonin,pneumonia severity index,hospitalization days,and hospitalization expenses were determined with Pearson rank correlation method.Results The procalcitonin,pneumonia severity index,hospitalization days,hospitalization expenses,modified CURB-65 score and CURB-65 score in Group B were significantly higher than those in Group A [(3.70 ± 0.83) vs.(1.27±0.24),t=28.91,P＜0.01; (121.33±16.74) vs.(73.79±9.21),t=25.23,P＜0.01;(25.79±10.13) vs.(14.85 ±6.83),t=9.02,P＜0.01; (22.71 ±3.84) vs.(9.83 ±1.24),t=32.76,P＜0.01; (3.69±1.03) vs.(3.32±1.06),t=2.48,P＜0.05; (4.21±1.13) vs.(3.41±0.96),t =5.39,P＜0.01],while no significant difference was observed in the white blood cell count between GroupA and B (17.58 ±5.99 vs.16.86±4.41,t =0.97,P＞0.05).For Group B,the modified CURB-65 score of death-subgroup was significantly higher than that of survived-subgroup [(4.75± ± 1.17) vs.(4.01 ± 1.09),t =2.95,P ＜ 0.01],whilc no significant difference was observed in the CURB-65 score between the death-subgroup and survived-subgroup (4.01 ± 1.15 vs.3.58 ±0.97,t =1.86,P ＞ 0.05).The CURB-65 score positive correlated with the procalcitonin (r =-0.803,P =0.025),and had no obvious correlation with the pneumonia severity index,hospitalization days,and hospitalization expenses (r=0.621,P=0.320; r=0.701,P=0.231; r=0.675,P=0.256); The modified CURB-65 score significantly positively correlated with the procalcitonin,pneumonia severity index,hospitalization days,and hospitalization expenses (r =0.951,P =0.003 ; r =0.965,P =0.002 ; r =0.947,P =0.004 ; r =0.961,P =0.002).Conclusions Compared with the CURB-65 score,the modified CURB-65 score is more efficient in evaluating the severity and prognoses of CAP for emergency patients.