Confusion, respiratory rate, shock index (CRSI-65) score in the emergency department triage may be a new severity scoring method for community-acquired pneumonia

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether confusion, respiratory rate, shock index-age ≥65 years (CRSI-65) score, consisting of basic physiological parameters, can be used for severity prediction in patients with community-acquired pneumonia. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort and single-center study conducted in Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University Hospital, Bolu, Turkey between January 2018 and June 2018. The study investigated CRSI-65 score in predicting 4-week mortality and the need for intensive care for patients with community-acquired pneumonia. RESULTS: A total of 58 patients with community-acquired pneumonia admitted to the emergency department were included in this study. Of the patients, 62.1% were males (n=36), and the mean age of the patients was 72.87 ± 12.30 years. After 4 weeks of follow-up, CURB-65 and CRSI-65 scores showed similar results in predicting mortality with respect to specificity, sensitivity, and positive and negative predictive values. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.926 for the CURB-65 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.853-0.999) and 0.954 for the CRSI-65 (95% CI 0.899-0.999). CONCLUSION: Similar to the CURB-65 score, the CRSI-65 score appears to be useful in predicting 4-week mortality. The evaluation of CRSI-65 score can be used in emergency department triage, primary care, and non-hospital settings.