ribscore_trauma: RibScore for Predicting Pulmonary Complications

In cliot: Clinical Indices and Outcomes Tools

RibScore for Predicting Pulmonary Complications

Description

Calculates the RibScore to predict the risk of pulmonary complications (pneumonia, respiratory failure, or need for tracheostomy) in patients with rib fractures. The score is derived from six clinical variables: age, number of fractures, presence of bilateral fractures, flail chest, chronic lung disease, and pre-injury anticoagulant use.

Usage

ribscore_trauma(age, fracture_count, bilateral_fractures, flail_chest,
                chronic_lung_disease, anticoagulant_use)

Arguments

age	Numeric. Patient age in years. <45: 0 pts. 45-64: 1 pt. >=65: 2 pts.
fracture_count	Numeric. Total number of rib fractures. <3: 0 pts. 3-5: 1 pt. >=6: 2 pts.
bilateral_fractures	Numeric (0 or 1). Presence of bilateral rib fractures. (1 = Yes, +2 pts).
flail_chest	Numeric (0 or 1). Presence of flail chest (segmental fractures of >=3 adjacent ribs). (1 = Yes, +2 pts).
chronic_lung_disease	Numeric (0 or 1). History of chronic lung disease (e.g., COPD, asthma). (1 = Yes, +2 pts).
anticoagulant_use	Numeric (0 or 1). Pre-injury use of anticoagulants (e.g., warfarin, DOACs, antiplatelets). (1 = Yes, +2 pts).

Value

A list containing:

RibScore	The calculated total score (Range 0-12).
Pulmonary_Complication_Risk	Estimated percentage risk of pneumonia, respiratory failure, or tracheostomy.

References

Chapman BC, Herbert B, Rodil M, et al. RibScore: A novel decision aid to predict pulmonary complications in patients with rib fractures. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2016;80(1):95-101. doi:10.1097/TA.0000000000000893

Examples

# Example 1: High Risk
# 70yo (+2), 6 fractures (+2), Bilateral (+2), Flail (+2)
# Score = 8
ribscore_trauma(70, 6, 1, 1, 0, 0)

# Example 2: Low Risk
# 30yo (0), 2 fractures (0), No other factors
# Score = 0
ribscore_trauma(30, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0)

cliot documentation built on Dec. 1, 2025, 1:06 a.m.