Abstract
Introduction:
The use of pneumonia scores to stratify the prognosis is very useful in general terms, since it allows objectively evaluating the risks in these patients.
Methods:
mixed type open study, first cross-sectional phase Test vs. Test, second phase follow-up at 8 and 30 days. Carried out between November 2017 and April 2018. The main objective was to determine the usefulness of pulse oximetry as a substitute for urea of the CURB 65 score in the evaluation of the severity of pneumonia in geriatric patients.
Results:
65 patients, gender distribution was comparable, the main age group was made up of people over 65 years of age. The frequency of comorbidities was greater than 90%, among which hypertension, diabetes and smoking stand out. The mean hospitalization time was 10 days. The variable that most defined the need for hospital admission was hypoxemia with a percentage of 72%, regardless of the score on the CURB 65 scale, it was shown that oxygen saturation <92% is associated with a high 30-day mortality rate ( 43.07%) n=28, (p 0), with a relative risk of at least 4 times more to die. When correlating the CURB 65 and CORB 65 scales with Spearman's Rho test, a correlation coefficient (0.898) was obtained.
Conclusions:
pulse oximetry proved to be a good substitute for urea in the CURB 65 score, useful for defining hospitalization, severity, and mortality in patients with CAP.