Paradise et al used a clinical score for grading children with pharyngitis. This can help monitor a child with recurrent pharyngitis over time. The authors are from the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
NOTE: This score could be applied to pharyngitis caused by bacteria other than Streptococcus pyogenes.
Patient population: children 3 to 15 years of age
Parameters:
(1) soreness
(2) temperature
(3) malaise or reduced activity
(4) tonsillar erythema
(5) anterior cervical lymphadenopathy
|
Parameter |
Finding |
Points |
|
throat soreness |
none |
0 |
|
|
mild to moderate |
1 |
|
|
severe |
2 |
|
maximum body temperature |
none (<= 37°C) |
0 |
|
|
mild to moderate (37.1 to 38.2°C) |
1 |
|
|
severe (>= 38.3°F) |
2 |
|
malaise or reduced activity |
none |
0 |
|
|
mild to moderate |
1 |
|
|
severe |
2 |
|
tonsillar erythema |
none |
0 |
|
|
mild to moderate |
1 |
|
|
severe, with thick exudate |
2 |
|
anterior cervical lymphadenopathy |
none |
0 |
|
|
mild to moderate |
1 |
|
|
severe (> 2 cm and tender) |
2 |
where:
• I used a temperature > 38.3°C to define a high body temperature. This was based on the value used to define a significant episode of pharyngitis (see next section).
• I used cervical lymph nodes > 2 cm to define severe adenopathy, also from the criteria for a significant episode.
• Parameters 2, 4 and 5 overlap with the criteria of Centor et al.
total score =
= SUM(points for all 5 parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 10
• The higher the score the more severe the pharyngitis.
|
Total Score |
Severity |
|
<= 2 |
mild |
|
3, 4 or 5 |
moderate |
|
>= 6 |
severe |
where:
• I would think a score of 0 would indicate nonexistent pharyngitis.
Specialty: Infectious Diseases, Pedatrics, Otolaryngology
ICD-10: ,
