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Pharyngitis is one of the most common reasons for medical visits; however, once patients are in the office, too many of them who don't need treatment receive it. Differentiating group A streptococcal (GAS) infection from other etiologies by physical exam is notoriously inaccurate. Several doctor-driven clinical scoring systems have been developed, but these require that the patient visit a healthcare site. Might some of the visits be avoided?
In a retrospective cohort study involving 71,776 patients aged ≥15 years who were tested for GAS pharyngitis at one of nine commercial walk-in sites, investigators developed a “home score” symptom tool — a composite of fever, absence of cough, and age. This score, coupled with contemporaneous data on GA…