Predicting ICU admission in community-acquired pneumonia: clinical scores and biomarkers.

Fernandez, Juan F; Sibila, Oriol; Restrepo, Marcos I

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a common and serious worldwide health problem. Despite all the advances in therapy, significant interest has focused on the identification of patients with CAP who require intensive care unit admission to improve their outcomes. The severity assessment of CAP provides an important guide to clinicians in deciding the site of care and the use of empiric antibiotics and adjuvant therapy. For years, several clinical assessment scores have been suggested and validated to achieve this goal. The recent introduction of biomarkers as prognostic indicators of severe CAP, whether used alone or in conjunction with other clinical severity of illness scores, has been investigated. An objective scoring system with a high level of sensitivity and specificity to predict the severity of CAP and the need for high levels of care do not exist. Today, the addition of clinical scores and biomarkers to clinical judgment is the best approach to optimize the care of severe CAP. Future research will allow validation of these and newer tools to improve the prognosis of patients with CAP.