CURB65
Symptom	Points
Confusion	1
Urea>7mmol/l	1
Respiratory rate>30	1
SBP<90mmHg, DBP<60mmHg	1
Age>=65	1

CURB-65, also known as the CURB criteria, is a clinical prediction rule

Clinical prediction rule

A clinical prediction rule is type of medical research study in which researchers try to identify the best combination of medical sign, symptoms, and other findings in predicting the probability of a specific disease or outcome....

 that has been validated for predicting mortality in community-acquired pneumonia

Community-acquired pneumonia

Community-acquired pneumonia is a term used to describe one of several diseases in which individuals who have not recently been hospitalized develop an infection of the lungs . CAP is a common illness and can affect people of all ages. CAP often causes problems like difficulty in breathing, fever,...

 and infection of any site. The CURB-65 is based on the earlier CURB score and is recommended by the British Thoracic Society

British Thoracic Society

The British Thoracic Society was formed in 1982 by the amalgamation of the British Thoracic Association and the Thoracic Society. It is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.-Function:...

 for the assessment of severity of pneumonia.

The score is an acronym for each of the risk factors measured. Each risk factor scores one point, for a maximum score of 5:

• Confusion of new onset (defined as an AMT
  Abbreviated mental test score
  The abbreviated mental test score was introduced by Hodkinson in 1972 to rapidly assess elderly patients for the possibility of dementia. Its uses in medicine have become somewhat wider, e.g. to assess for confusion and other cognitive impairment, although it has mainly been validated in the...
  
   of 8 or less)
• Urea greater than 7 mmol/l (19 mg/dL)
• Respiratory rate of 30 breaths per minute or greater
• Blood pressure less than 90 mmHg systolic or diastolic blood pressure 60 mmHg or less
• age 65 or older

Pneumonia

The risk of death at 30 days increases as the score increases:

• 0—0.6%
• 1—3.2%
• 2—13.0%
• 3—17.0%
• 4—41.5%
• 5—57.0%

The CURB-65 has been compared to the pneumonia severity index

Pneumonia severity index

The pneumonia severity index [PSI] or PORT Score is a clinical prediction rule that medical practitioners can use to calculate the probability of morbidity and mortality among patients with community acquired pneumonia....

in predicting mortality from pneumonia.

It is used as a means of deciding the action that is needed to be taken for that patient.
0-1 treat as an outpatient
2 consider a short stay in hospital or watch very closely as an outpatient
3-5 requires hospitalization with consideration as to whether they need to be in the intensive care unit

Any infection

Patients with any type of infection (half of the patients had pneumonia), the risk of death increases as the score increases:

• 0 to 1 <5% mortality
• 2 to 3 < 10% mortality
• 4 to 5 15-30% mortality