Bettens et al developed s simple score to screen geriatric patient for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on hospital admission. This can help to triage patients for evaluation. The authors are from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
Patient selection: elderly patient on hospital admission, will assume >= 65 years of age
Outcome: MRSA carriage based on nose, throat, axillary and groin swabs
Parameters:
(1) age in years
(2) previous history of MRSA carriage
(3) number of previous hospitalizations
(4) history of chronic wounds
(65) previous history of antibiotic therapy
Parameter
Finding
Points
age in years
< 87 years
0
>= 87 years
1
history of MRSA carriage
no
0
yes
1
number of previous hospitalizations
no
0
yes
1
history of chronic wounds
no
0
yes
1
history of antibiotic therapy
no
0
yes
1
total score =
= SUM(points for all 5 parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 5
• A score >= 2 had the maximum Youden score with a negative predictive value of 97%
Perfomance:
• The area under the ROC curve is 0.83.
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