Quick Pitt (qPitt) Bacteremia Score
The quick Pitt (qPitt) bacteremia score (Battle and colleagues 2019) predicts mortality in a patient who already has a bloodstream infection.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Temperature under 36 degrees C
- No
- Systolic blood pressure under 90 mmHg, or vasopressors in use
- Yes
- Respiratory rate of 25 or more, or mechanical ventilation
- Yes
- Altered mental status
- No
- Cardiac arrest
- No
Result: 2
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Fever
- SCORES NOTHING. The temperature item is HYPOTHERMIA ONLY. A patient at 40.5 C scores the same as one at 37.0.
- Weighting
- BINARY here, WEIGHTED on the predecessor (0-14, cardiac arrest worth 4). Cardiac arrest = a respiratory rate of 25 here. Scores are NOT interchangeable.
- 0 or 1
- Below the high-risk threshold. Derivation mortality 8.7%.
- 2 or more
- HIGH RISK - only 2 of 5. Derivation mortality 57.5%.
- Mortality
- 28-day: 3, 9, 22, 45 and 70% for 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 OR MORE. A score of 5 has NO figure of its own; the lumping is the source’s.
- Operator
- Reproductions print the hypotension item as "under 90" or "90 or below". The derivation reads below 90, which is applied.
- Scope
- Mortality prognostic for an ESTABLISHED bloodstream infection. A low score is NOT a reason to withhold or narrow empiric therapy. Not a sepsis screen.
What you enter
- Temperature under 36 degrees C.
- Systolic blood pressure under 90 mmHg, or vasopressors in use.
- Respiratory rate of 25 or more, or mechanical ventilation.
- Altered mental status.
- Cardiac arrest.
Full field descriptions
- Temperature under 36 degrees C. HYPOTHERMIA ONLY. Fever scores nothing at all on this score, however high.
- Systolic blood pressure under 90 mmHg, or vasopressors in use. Some reproductions print "90 or below"; the derivation reads below 90, which is what is applied.
- Respiratory rate of 25 or more, or mechanical ventilation. Worth exactly as much as cardiac arrest on this score.
- Altered mental status. Binary. The predecessor graded it.
- Cardiac arrest. Worth 1 here; worth 4 on the predecessor.
How this is calculated
- Items
- FIVE BINARY items, 1 point each, 0-5: hypothermia under 36 C; SBP under 90 or vasopressors; RR 25 or more or ventilation; altered mental status; cardiac arrest.
Battle SE, Augustine MR, Watson CM, et al. Derivation of a quick Pitt bacteremia score to predict mortality in patients with Gram-negative bloodstream infection. Infection. 2019;47(4):571-578. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.