Application of PRESS Scale in Classification of Children with Acute Respiratory at Vietnam National Children’s Hospital

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are the most common diseases in children. On average, each child has 3-6 episodes of ARIs. This is also the disease with the highest mortality rate in children. Assessing the severity of ARIs right from the first visit to the appropriate monitoring and treatment indications is essential. However, there are few such scoring systems for acute respiratory infection in childhood. We apply the PRESS (Pediatrics Respiratory Severity Score) scale to the classification of ARIs in children.
 Methods: A cross-sectional description of 203 cases diagnosed with ARIs, hospitalized at the 24-hour Examination and Treatment Department from July 1, 2018 to June 31, 2019. The PRESS scale was applied to classify ARI severity. The PRESS assessed tachypnea, wheezing, retraction (accessory muscle use), SpO2, and feeding difficulties, with each component given a score of 0 or 1, and total scores were classified as mild (0-1), moderate (2-3), or severe (4-5).
 Results: The proportion of severe group (4.4%), moderate (37,0%), and mild (58.6%). Mean severity scores 1.4 ± 1.2 (0-5) points. The mean severity scores of respiratory infections and lower respiratory infections were statistically significant with p <0.001.
 Discussion: PRESS scale with simple, measurable criteria is a useful tool to assess the severity of ARIs.