SynthesisAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy2011
Meta-analysis and systematic review of procalcitonin-guided therapy in respiratory tract infections.
Synthesis in Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01788488 (Impact of Measuring Serum Procalcitonin Levels on Duration of Antimicrobial Therapy in Critical Care Patients With Suspected Pneumonia), which is not on this map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Impact of Measuring Serum Procalcitonin Levels on Duration of Antimicrobial Therapy in Critical Care Patients With Suspected Pneumonia
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Procalcitonin as a Candidate Biomarker for Malarial Infection and Severe Malaria: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- A meta-analysis to assess usefulness of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic usage for decision making.The Indian journal of medical research · 2017Pooled it
- Article
- Procalcitonin for Predicting Sepsis in Infants in the Emergency Department: A Retrospective Study.Pediatric health, medicine and therapeutics · 2026Article
- Guidelines for the Initial Assessment of Respiratory Distress in the Emergency Department.Annals of intensive care · 2026Article
- The Procalcitonin-guided Antibiotics in Respiratory Infections (PARI) project in general practice - a study protocol.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Opportunities Revealed for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Clinical Practice with Implementation of a Rapid Respiratory Multiplex Assay.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2019Article
- Implementation of the Procalcitonin Assay in a Rural Hospital.Hospital pharmacy · 2018Article
- Authors' Response.The Indian journal of medical research · 2018Article
- Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic usage - addressing heterogeneity in meta-analysis.The Indian journal of medical research · 2018Article
- Procalcitonin and CRP as Biomarkers in Discrimination of Community-acquired Pneumonia and Exacerbation of COPD.Journal of medical biochemistry · 2017Article
- De-escalating Antibiotic Use in the Inpatient Setting: Strategies, Controversies, and Challenges.Current infectious disease reports · 2017Review
- Postviral Complications: Bacterial Pneumonia.Clinics in chest medicine · 2017Review
- New Insights into Sepsis Therapy Using Sepia Officinalis.Jundishapur journal of microbiology · 2016Article
- Performance of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin to distinguish viral from bacterial and malarial causes of fever in Southeast Asia.BMC infectious diseases · 2015Article
- Can Procalcitonin Add to the Prognostic Power of the Severity Scoring System in Adults with Pneumonia?Tanaffos · 2015Article
- Biomarkers for sepsis.BioMed research international · 2014Review
- Immunocompromised hosts: Infections and biomarkers.South Asian journal of cancer · 2013Article
- Article
- Role of biomarkers in the management of antibiotic therapy: an expert panel review II: clinical use of biomarkers for initiation or discontinuation of antibiotic therapy.Annals of intensive care · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Circulating procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker that can be used in diagnosing bacterial infections. We performed a quantitative meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials to determine whether antibiotic therapy based on PCT measurements alters clinical outcomes and antibiotic use in patients with lower respiratory tract infections. We identified studies through MEDLINE (1996 to 2010), the ISI Web of Knowledge (1996 to 2010), and Ovid. Studies that met our criteria were prospective, randomized controlled trials involving patients with respiratory tract infections. Outcomes of mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, length of hospital stay, number of antibiotic prescriptions, and duration of antibiotic treatment were evaluated. Eight studies randomizing 3,431 patients met our criteria for inclusion. Pooled analysis showed a significant reduction in number of antibiotic prescriptions and duration of antibiotic use in patients with PCT-guided antibiotic treatment compared to standard therapy. In addition, the use of PCT-guided antibiotic therapy did not impact mortality, ICU admission, or length of hospital stay in these studies. A high degree of heterogeneity was identified in 3 of 5 outcomes that were evaluated, and sensitivity analysis indicated that heterogeneity was decreased among studies using the same PCT-based treatment algorithm. In conclusion, PCT-guided antibiotic therapy in patients with respiratory tract infections appears to reduce antibiotic use without affecting overall mortality or length of stay in the hospital.
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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.