Centor criteria

Centor Criteria

The Centor Criteria was developed by RM Centor et al as a method to quickly diagnose the presence of Group A streptococcal infection in "adult patients who presented to an urban emergency room complaining of a sore throat." [Medical Decision Making. 1981;1(3):239-46 "The diagnosis of strep throat in adults in the emergency room." [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entreztitle PubMed.gov] PMID: 6763125] The patients are judged on four criteria:
*History of fever
*Tonsillar exudates
*Tender cervical adenopathy
*Absence of cough

The presence of all four variables indicates a 40 - 60% positive predictive value for a culture of the throat to test positive for Group A Streptococcus bacteria. The absence of all four variables indicates a negative predictive value of greater than 80%. [Aten Primaria. 2007 Jul;39(7):361-5. "Is streptococcal pharyngitis diagnosis possible?" [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entreztitle PubMed.gov] PMID:17669320] The high negative predictive value suggests that the Centor Criteria can be more effectively used for ruling out strep throat than for diagnosing strep throat.

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