Pneumonia can be determined on the basis of its clinical presentation, temperature, signs, blood tests, and chest imaging.
1. Clinical manifestations: Pneumonia is often characterized by cough, sputum, chest pain, dyspnea, hemoptysis and other discomforts. Elderly people may show decreased appetite and poor mental health, or aggravation of existing respiratory symptoms and the appearance of purulent sputum.
2. Temperature: fever, often greater than 38 degrees.
3. Signs: Lung auscultation may detect wet rales and solid lung lesions.
4. Blood: white blood cells >10×10⁹/L or <4×10⁹/L.
5. Chest imaging: Chest imaging shows interstitial changes or lamellar or patchy infiltrative shadows with or without pleural effusion.
Any one of the first four items plus item 5 can basically determine pneumonia, but need to exclude some of the diseases that cause the above manifestations such as pulmonary edema, pulmonary atelectasis, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary tuberculosis, lung tumors, etc., and recommend that the patient consult a doctor in time to identify.