The clinical respiratory journal
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Comparative Study
Comparing severity scores in exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Prognostic scores help identify patients at a high risk of mortality in exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Dyspnoea, Eosinopaenia, Consolidation, Acidaemia and atrial Fibrillation (DECAF) score has been reported to perform better than other severity scores in predicting mortality from exacerbations of COPD in studies including patients with pneumonia. ⋯ In patients hospitalised with exacerbations of COPD without pneumonia, simple clinical scores that rely on fewer laboratory measures perform at least as well as DECAF in predicting early mortality.