In cardiac physiology, the Levine grading scale is a numeric scoring system to characterize the intensity or the loudness of a heart murmur.
The eponym is from researcher Samuel A. Levine who studied the significance of systolic heart murmurs.
The Levine scaling system persists as the gold standard for grading heart murmur intensity.
It provides accuracy, consistency, and interrater agreement which are essential for diagnostic purposes, particularly to distinguish innocent from pathological murmurs.
Louder murmurs (grade ≥3) are more likely believed to represent cardiac defects that tend to have hemodynamic consequences.