Loading...
The American College of Physicians recommends neither testing nor treating patients with pharyngitis who have Centor scores of <2 (1 point each for fever; absence of cough; swollen, tender anterior cervical lymph nodes; and tonsillar exudate; NEJM JW Infect Dis Apr 27 2001). In this study, researchers developed a scoring system to help patients with pharyngitis decide whether medical evaluation is needed. The researchers determined local group A streptococcus (GAS) infection rates by evaluating data from >70,000 adult (age, ≥15) visits to a chain of walk-in retail clinics.
A derived “home score” (range, 0–100) was calculated for each patient by combining the score elements (fever, absence of cough, age) with the local GAS infection rate. The…