Centor

Centor is a term used in several contexts, most prominently in medicine as the Centor criteria, a clinical scoring system for evaluating sore throat and the likelihood of group A Streptococcus (GAS) infection. The criteria are named after James Centor, who proposed them in 1981.

The original Centor criteria identify four clinical features. Each feature scores one point: presence of tonsillar exudates, tender anterior cervical adenopathy, absence of cough, and fever. The total score ranges from 0 to 4. Higher scores correlate with a higher probability of GAS pharyngitis and inform management decisions such as whether to perform a throat culture or a rapid antigen detection test, and whether to prescribe antibiotics.

The Centor score has been modified and refined for different age groups and clinical settings. The most widely used modification, the McIsaac score, adds an age adjustment to the original four criteria to improve diagnostic accuracy: younger patients typically increase the score and older patients may decrease it. Depending on the setting, clinicians may use a validated threshold to guide testing and treatment.

In addition to its medical usage, Centor is a surname and may refer to individuals who bear the name, as well as to organizations, products, or locations that adopt the name. The term's meaning is thus context-dependent.