title: [The use of clinical score to estimate the severity of an acute attack of asthma]
abstract: OBJECTIVE: To identify patients with acute asthma who require intensive care, using a clinical score.METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 299 patients who were admitted to the hospital for acute asthma, between 1993 and 1996. Two groups were selected: group I (GI) with 26 patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit; group II (GII) with 52 patients admitted to the Emergency Room, matched by age and sex with those of GI. A clinical score to assess the groups had the following items: heart rate, respiratory rate, retractions, cyanosis, alertness level, previous treatment, previous hospitalization, and duration of attack. The score ranged from 0 to 2 points for each of those, summing up 11 points.RESULTS: The clinical parameters that discriminated well the 2 groups were: retractions (p<0.001), cyanosis (p<0.01) and alertness level (p<0.005). Through a discriminate analysis of the clinical score components, 22/26 patients were recognized as GI and 40/52 patients were recognized as GII, showing an accuracy of 85% and 77% respectively for GI and GII.CONCLUSION: The clinical score was useful to discriminate patients with severe attack of asthma who might require intensive care, and should be employed at hospital admission.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Morgenstern
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Rosário Filho
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cat
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Carreiro
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Caleffe