Westley Croup Score

The Westley croup score is validated and commonly used in clinical practice (Table 1). Children with croup can be divided into four levels of severity [7,8]:

• Mild (croup score 0-2)
• Moderate (croup score 3-5)
• Severe (croup score 6-11)
• Impending respiratory failure (croup score 12-17)

85% of children have mild croup. Around 5% of children with croups require admission to hospital and of these 1-3% require intubation. In a 10-year study of those intubated there was 0.5% mortality rate. Uncommon complications include pneumonia and bacterial tracheitis. [9]