Severity assessment in community-acquired pneumonia: A review

Abstract

Severity assessment is an important early step in the management of patients presenting with community-acquired pneumonia. Various pneumonia-specific scores, generic sepsis scores and predictive biomarkers have been proposed as tools to aid clinicians in key management decisions. However, there is no uniform agreement about the optimum severity assessment tool to use. This review provides a summary of current evidence surrounding severity assessment in adult patients presenting with community-acquired pneumonia. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved.