Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19826761›Full record

SynthesisInfection2009

Effect of procalcitonin-guided treatment in patients with infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

H Tang, T Huang, J Jing, H Shen, W Cui

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Infection, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02173613 (Reduction of the Duration of Antibiotic Guided by Procalcitonin in Infections Lungs of Hospitalized Elderly), which is not on this map. Cited by 45 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
45citing papers in PubMed, 11 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT02173613 naterminatednot on this mapstarted 2012, after this paper: background citation

Reduction of the Duration of Antibiotic Guided by Procalcitonin in Infections Lungs of Hospitalized Elderly: a Randomized

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity Hospital, GrenobleRan2012 to 2016Enrolled117ConditionsLung InfectionArmsprocalcitonine
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

45 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  8. Procalcitonin to guide initiation and duration of antibiotic treatment in acute respiratory infections: an individual patient data meta-analysis.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2012
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  13. Expression ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

H TangIntensive Care Unit, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
T Huang
J Jing
H Shen
W Cui

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThe aim of this study was to review the effectiveness of procalcitonin (PCT)-guided therapy in comparison to standard therapy in patients with suspected or confirmed bacterial infections in terms of antibiotic prescription at inclusion, duration of antibiotic therapy, total antibiotic exposure days/1,000 days, length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), length of stay in the hospital, and mortality.

methodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane central register of controlled trials were searched up to November 2008. Studies considered to be eligible were randomized controlled trials comparing PCT-guided therapy with standard therapy in adult patients with bacterial infections. No language restriction was applied. Data were combined in a meta-analysis using random-effect models.

resultsSeven studies with 1,458 patients were included. PCT-guided therapy was associated with a significant reduction in antibiotic prescription at inclusion (four studies; pooled odds ratio [OR] 0.506, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.290-0.882, p = 0.016), duration of antibiotic therapy (six studies; weighted mean difference [WMD] 2.785, 95% CI 1.225-4.345, p = 0.000), total antibiotic exposure days/1,000 days (four studies; pooled relative risk [RR] 1.664, 95% CI 1.155-2.172, p = 0.000), and length of stay in the ICU (three studies; 292 patients; pooled WMD 3.49 days, 95% CI 1.28-5.70, p = 0.002). There were no significant differences in length of stay in the hospital (three studies; pooled WMD 1.003, 95% CI -0.430 to 2.437, p = 0.17) and mortality (seven studies; pooled OR 0.838, 95% CI 0.571-1.229, p = 0.365).

conclusionsBased on the results of this meta-analysis, it would appear that an algorithm based on serial PCT measurements would allow a more judicious use of antibiotics than currently occurs during the traditional treatment of patients with infections. PCT-guided antibiotic treatment appears to be safe and may also improve clinical outcome.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overAnimalsAnti-Bacterial AgentsBacterial InfectionsCalcitoninCalcitonin Gene-Related PeptideDrug MonitoringFemaleHumansLength of StayMaleMiddle AgedProtein PrecursorsRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicAnti-Bacterial AgentsCALCA protein, humanCalcitoninCalcitonin Gene-Related PeptideProtein Precursors

Identifiers

PMID19826761

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.