Diagnosis and Assessment of Severity of Pediatric Pneumonia Using the Respiratory Index of Severity (RISC) Scoring System.

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between the Respiratory Index of Severity (RISC) scoring system and the World Health Organization (WHO) interpretation of chest radiographs, and to evaluate the RISC scoring system in the diagnosis and assessment of severity of pneumonia in children against chest X-ray.

Methods: 241 children presenting to a tertiary care center with a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia that necessitated a chest radiograph to be taken, were enrolled. The RISC scoring was done for all participants by a single pediatrician and chest X-ray graded by a single radiologist as per the WHO interpretation of chest radiographs.

Results: There was a statistically significant positive correlation (P=0.02) between the two scores. RISC score of >1 had a sensitivity of 80.3%, and score ≥3 had a specificity of 88.3%, positive predictive value of 61.3% and negative predictive value of 76.8% for diagnosis and to predict severity of pneumonia.

Conclusion: In a resource-limited setting, RISC scoring can be used to diagnose and predict the severity of childhood pneumonia.