The Westley score grades the severity of croup — a common childhood upper-airway infection causing a barking cough and stridor — to guide treatment like steroids or nebulized epinephrine.
Mild croup.
Moderate croup.
Severe croup.
No — croup specifically involves upper airway swelling (causing the characteristic barking cough and stridor), while asthma and bronchiolitis primarily affect the lower airways.
Roughly: 2 or below is mild, 3–7 is moderate, and 8 or above is severe croup, guiding treatment intensity.
Most croup gets corticosteroids; moderate-to-severe scores, especially with stridor at rest, add nebulized epinephrine and close observation.
Stridor only with agitation suggests milder narrowing, whereas stridor at rest indicates more significant upper-airway obstruction and scores higher.