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A quick Crohn’s disease score from one day’s symptoms, used by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) teams and in some medicines funding rules.
The Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI) is a simpler version of the CDAI, published in 1980. It uses only the day before an appointment: how you felt, how bad any tummy pain was, how many liquid stools you passed, and any problems outside the gut, plus a check of your abdomen by your doctor.
Because it needs no 7-day diary, blood test or weight, it is quick to fill in. The total shows as “so far” until your IBD team adds the abdominal check.
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Your IBD team may use the HBI to track how active Crohn’s disease is. For subsidised medicines, Australia’s PBS (its medicines subsidy scheme) asks for a CDAI instead. See the CDAI calculator.
In Canada, provincial drug plans and private insurers set their own rules for some Crohn’s medicines, and some of them ask your specialist for a disease activity score. Your IBD team may use the HBI, a quicker one-day score, to track how active Crohn’s disease is. In British Columbia, for example, PharmaCare’s Special Authority form for these medicines asks for the patient’s current Harvey-Bradshaw Index. Source: BC PharmaCare: Special Authority form for Crohn’s disease medicines (HLTH 5368).
In New Zealand, Pharmac, the government agency that decides which medicines are funded, asks for a Special Authority form for some of them. One of Pharmac’s Special Authority forms, for example, accepts a Harvey-Bradshaw Index of 10 or more to start treatment, and a fall of 3 points or an HBI of 4 or less to continue it. Source: Pharmac: Special Authority form SA2183.
In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advises the NHS in England and Wales on which medicines to use; Northern Ireland reviews its advice, and Scotland has its own body, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). NICE guidance on some Crohn’s medicines says severe active Crohn’s disease normally, but not always, matches a Harvey-Bradshaw score of 8 to 9 or above. Source: NICE technology appraisal TA187.
In the US, health insurers set their own rules for approving some Crohn’s medicines, and some ask your doctor for a disease activity score. Your IBD team may use the HBI, a quicker one-day score, to track how active Crohn’s disease is.
Your IBD team may use the HBI, a quicker one-day score, to track how active Crohn’s disease is. Medicines funding rules that ask for a score say which one they need.
The HBI score describes how active Crohn’s disease looks from the answers given. It doesn’t diagnose anything, and your IBD team reads it alongside everything else they know about you.