Is Streptococcal Pharyngitis Diagnosis Possible?
OBJECTIVE: To determine the validity of the Centor score (cervical adenopathy, tonsillar exudate, fever, and absence of catarrh symptoms) in diagnosing streptococcal pharyngitis (gold standard: throat swab). DESIGN: Descriptive study. SETTING: San Fernando 2 Health Centre, Madrid (outer urban area), Spain. PARTICIPANTS: On hundred forty patients over 14 years old who had a “sore throat” as main symptom and attended clinic between 14 February and 12 May, 2005. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and the probability quotients of the Centor score were determined. Pharyngeal throat culture was used as the reference method. RESULTS: Thirty four patients had positive throat culture (24.3%; 95% CI, 17.6%-32.4%). Finding the 4 criteria in the Centor score had a positive predictive value (PPV) of 48.1% (95% CI, 30.7%-66.0%) and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 81.4% (95% CI, 73.3%-87.5%); although only fever (OR, 3.64; 95% CI, 1.40-9.49) and
