Clinical scoring systems have their limitations but they do create numbers that can be searched by computers or provide thresholds for clinical action. An example could be body mass index rather than using descriptive phrases of obesity. A primary care team wanted smoking use by patients to be easily numerically recorded on the patient records and devised a smoking pack years calculator to simplify this task. Primary care respiratory teams who saw the calculator wanted it widely available. This calculator was placed on the web and is freely available for use. Over 1 million calculations have been made worldwide, which suggests it is popular and useful. Lung cancer screening involves a pack year threshold to be passed to justify the use of radiological imaging. It is disappointing that numerical scoring systems for smoking use have not yet been placed in the UK computer record systems because they could assist with research, screening, and disease detection in general practice populations (https://www.smokingpackyears.com).
- © British Journal of General Practice 2020
