Pneumonia severity scores in resource poor settings

Abstract

Clinical prognostc scores are increasingly used to streamline care in well-resourced setngs. The potental benefts of identfying patents at risk of clinical deterioraton and poor outcome, delivering appropriate higher level clinical care, and increasing efciency are clear. In this focused review, we examine the use and applicability of severity scores applied to patents with community acquired pneumonia in resource poor setngs. We challenge clinical researchers working in such systems to consider the generalisability of existng severity scores in their populatons, and where performance of scores is suboptmal, to promote eforts to develop and validate new tools for the beneft of patents and healthcare systems.

Keywords: developing countries; health resources; operatons research; pneumonia; severity of illness index.