What is a good Harvey-Bradshaw Index score?

A total under 5 is usually reported as clinical remission. Between 5 and 7 counts as mild, 8 to 16 as moderate and above 16 as severe.

What does a Harvey-Bradshaw score of 9 mean?

Nine is in the moderate band, which runs from 8 to 16, so it sits near the gentler end of a wide category. Two people can score 9 for very different reasons, which is why the item breakdown matters more than the total.

What change in the Harvey-Bradshaw Index counts as a response?

A fall of 3 points is the conventional threshold for clinical response. In a large analysis it matched the 100-point drop on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index that trials use.

Can I calculate the Harvey-Bradshaw Index at home?

You can score four of the five items yourself. The abdominal mass item needs a clinician to examine your abdomen, so a home score usually treats it as 0 and should be labelled as a self-score.

Does a low Harvey-Bradshaw score mean my Crohn's is healed?

No. The index measures how you felt on one day, not what is happening in the bowel lining. Inflammation can continue while symptoms are quiet, which is why it is paired with calprotectin, blood tests, imaging or a scope.

What is the difference between the Harvey-Bradshaw Index and the CDAI?

The Crohn's Disease Activity Index is the older, longer research score that needs a seven-day diary and a blood test. The Harvey-Bradshaw Index is a one-day simplification of it; the two correlate well but not perfectly.

Why did my score go up when I feel about the same?

Each liquid or soft stool adds a point with no ceiling, so two extra loose stools add two points on their own. A single reading is noisy, and the trend across several readings carries more information.

Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI) Calculator

Score your Crohn's symptoms with the index IBD clinics use.

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About 2 minutes
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Updated October 3, 2026

The short answer

The Harvey-Bradshaw Index scores Crohn's disease symptoms from the previous day across five items: general well-being (0 to 4), abdominal pain (0 to 3), the number of liquid or soft stools (1 point each), abdominal mass (0 to 3) and 1 point for each of eight complications. A total under 5 is usually reported as clinical remission, 5 to 7 as mild, 8 to 16 as moderate and above 16 as severe.

How was your general well-being yesterday?

How much abdominal pain did you have yesterday?

How many liquid or soft stools did you pass yesterday?Count only liquid or soft stools. Use the same definition every time you score.

stools

Abdominal massThis is judged by a clinician examining your abdomen. If nobody has checked, choose the first option, which scores 0.

Do you currently have any of these complications?Tick any that apply. Each scores 1 point.

Your previous Harvey-Bradshaw score, if you know itOptional. Used to show how much your score has changed.

How to use the Harvey-Bradshaw Index Calculator

1Rate your general well-being and abdominal pain for yesterday.
2Enter how many liquid or soft stools you passed yesterday.
3Choose the abdominal mass option (pick none or not checked unless a clinician has examined you) and tick any complications you have.
4Get your total, your band, the item that contributes most and, if you add a previous score, how much it has changed.

How the Harvey-Bradshaw Index is scored

Richard Harvey and John Bradshaw published the index in 1980 as a simple, one-day version of the much longer Crohn's Disease Activity Index, which needs a seven-day diary and a blood test. The five items are added with no weighting.

The stool count has no upper limit, so it can dominate the total on its own. An abscess scores the same single point as joint pain. That is why the item breakdown matters more than the total.

Item	How it is scored	Points
General well-being yesterday	Very well 0, slightly below par 1, poor 2, very poor 3, terrible 4	0 to 4
Abdominal pain yesterday	None 0, mild 1, moderate 2, severe 3	0 to 3
Liquid or soft stools yesterday	1 point per stool	No upper limit
Abdominal mass	None 0, dubious 1, definite 2, definite and tender 3 (clinician examination)	0 to 3
Complications	1 each: arthralgia, uveitis, erythema nodosum, aphthous ulcers, pyoderma gangrenosum, anal fissure, new fistula, abscess	0 to 8

What your score means

These are the bands used in clinic letters and research. The remission line has a direct evidence base: in almost 1,000 paired assessments from two large trials, a total of 4 or less lined up with remission on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index. The same analysis found a 3-point change matched the change trials use to define a clinical response.

The moderate band is very wide. A 9 and a 15 get the same label but describe very different days, so look at which items produced your number. Our guide to what a Harvey-Bradshaw score means works through examples.

Total	Band
0 to 4	Clinical remission
5 to 7	Mild
8 to 16	Moderate
17 or more	Severe
A fall of 3 or more	Conventional threshold for clinical response

What the score cannot tell you

It does not measure inflammation. In a study of people having colonoscopy, remission on this index predicted a healed bowel lining barely better than chance. Symptoms and inflammation often move out of step in Crohn's, in both directions.

A score under 5 is not a reason to skip a calprotectin test or a scope, and a high score can come from things other than active Crohn's, such as bile acid diarrhoea after surgery, a stomach bug or a rough week. If your score and how you feel do not match, our guide to telling whether you are in a Crohn's flare covers the tests that settle it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good Harvey-Bradshaw Index score?: A total under 5 is usually reported as clinical remission. Between 5 and 7 counts as mild, 8 to 16 as moderate and above 16 as severe.
What does a Harvey-Bradshaw score of 9 mean?: Nine is in the moderate band, which runs from 8 to 16, so it sits near the gentler end of a wide category. Two people can score 9 for very different reasons, which is why the item breakdown matters more than the total.
What change in the Harvey-Bradshaw Index counts as a response?: A fall of 3 points is the conventional threshold for clinical response. In a large analysis it matched the 100-point drop on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index that trials use.
Can I calculate the Harvey-Bradshaw Index at home?: You can score four of the five items yourself. The abdominal mass item needs a clinician to examine your abdomen, so a home score usually treats it as 0 and should be labelled as a self-score.
Does a low Harvey-Bradshaw score mean my Crohn's is healed?: No. The index measures how you felt on one day, not what is happening in the bowel lining. Inflammation can continue while symptoms are quiet, which is why it is paired with calprotectin, blood tests, imaging or a scope.
What is the difference between the Harvey-Bradshaw Index and the CDAI?: The Crohn's Disease Activity Index is the older, longer research score that needs a seven-day diary and a blood test. The Harvey-Bradshaw Index is a one-day simplification of it; the two correlate well but not perfectly.
Why did my score go up when I feel about the same?: Each liquid or soft stool adds a point with no ceiling, so two extra loose stools add two points on their own. A single reading is noisy, and the trend across several readings carries more information.

Harvey-Bradshaw Index: What Your Score Means
Under 5 is remission, 5-7 mild, 8-16 moderate, above 16 severe. What the Harvey-Bradshaw Index measures, what it misses, and how to read your own score.
How to Tell If You're in a Crohn's Flare
Symptoms alone cannot confirm a Crohn's flare. How to read your own baseline, rule out the look-alikes, and use the tests that actually settle it.
High Calprotectin but No Symptoms: What It Means
A high faecal calprotectin while you feel fine usually means real inflammation you cannot feel, but not always. What the number means and what happens next.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Crohn's Disease
The questions that change what happens next in Crohn's care, what a useful answer sounds like, and how to fit them into a ten-minute appointment.
Symptom Tracker for Doctor: What Gets Read
A clinician will read one page, not your whole export. What to put on it, which scales they already recognise, and how to hand it over so it lands.

Sources

Harvey RF, Bradshaw JM. A simple index of Crohn's-disease activity. Lancet. 1980;1(8167):514. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(80)92767-1
Vermeire S, Schreiber S, Sandborn WJ, Dubois C, Rutgeerts P. Correlation between the Crohn's disease activity and Harvey-Bradshaw indices in assessing Crohn's disease severity. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2010;8(4):357-63. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2010.01.001
Best WR. Predicting the Crohn's disease activity index from the Harvey-Bradshaw Index. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2006;12(4):304-10. doi:10.1097/01.MIB.0000215091.77492.2a
Zittan E, Kabakchiev B, Kelly OB, Milgrom R, Nguyen GC, Croitoru K, et al. Development of the Harvey-Bradshaw Index-pro (HBI-PRO) score to assess endoscopic disease activity in Crohn's disease. J Crohns Colitis. 2017;11(5):543-8. doi:10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjw200
Bennebroek Evertsz' F, Hoeks CC, Nieuwkerk PT, Stokkers PC, Ponsioen CY, Bockting CL, et al. Development of the patient Harvey Bradshaw index and a comparison with a clinician-based Harvey Bradshaw index assessment of Crohn's disease activity. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2013;47(10):850-6. doi:10.1097/MCG.0b013e31828b2196
Echarri A, Vera I, Ollero V, Arajol C, Riestra S, Robledo P, et al. The Harvey-Bradshaw Index adapted to a mobile application compared with in-clinic assessment: the MediCrohn study. Telemed J E Health. 2020;26(1):80-8. doi:10.1089/tmj.2018.0264
Calvet X, Ferrario MG, Marfil V, Armenteros S, Barreiro-de Acosta M. Patient-reported outcome measures poorly correlate with objective inflammatory bowel disease activity measures: a systematic review. J Crohns Colitis. 2025;19(9):jjaf132. doi:10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjaf132

Cite this tool

Clairop. Harvey-Bradshaw Index Calculator. www.clairop.com/tools/harvey-bradshaw-index-calculator. Updated October 3, 2026.

Clairop is a general wellness app for people living with a diagnosed digestive condition. It does not replace professional medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Always follow your healthcare provider's advice.

Clairop logs meals, symptoms and stool in seconds, then looks for the foods your gut reacts to, including reactions that land days later.

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