Association of CURB-65 (Confusion, Urea, Respiratory Rate, Blood Pressure) with Mortality of Patients with Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Abstract

Background. Severe community-acquired pneumonia (sCAP) is serious, life-thretening condition, with high mortality rate. Scoring systems for disease severity are used for predicting mortality in patients with pneumonia. Objective of this study was to identify the parameters of CURB-65 score that have higher association with mortality in patients with severe CAP. Material and methods. One hundred and two patients with community-acquired pneumonia were enrolled in the study. The study was conducted at the Intensive Care Department of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions-Skopje. Demographic, clinical and biochemical parameters were analyzed and CURB-65 was calculated in each patient at admission. Predictors were identified using logistic regression analysis. Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC) was constructed for assessing discriminative power of analyzed parameters. Results. CURB-65 identified severe CAP in 32 (31,4%) patients, with overall mortality rate of 62,5%. Confusion, respiratory rate > 30/min and urea > 7mmol/L had significant association with the mortality. Conclusion. CURB-65 is a simple tool that can identify patients with severe CAP and can be used for early prediction of patients mortality.