SynthesisIntensive care medicine2012
An ESICM systematic review and meta-analysis of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy algorithms in adult critically ill patients.
Synthesis in Intensive care medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 123 citations in OpenAlex.
- [S3 Guideline Sepsis-prevention, diagnosis, therapy, and aftercare : Long version].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2020Guideline
- Surviving sepsis campaign international guidelines for the management of septic shock and sepsis-associated organ dysfunction in children.Intensive care medicine · 2020Guideline
- Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: An updated meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy in critically ill adults: a meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2017Pooled it
- Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock: 2016.Intensive care medicine · 2017Guideline
- Effectiveness and safety of procalcitonin evaluation for reducing mortality in adults with sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- The Use of Procalcitonin (PCT) for Diagnosis of Sepsis in Burn Patients: A Meta-Analysis.PloS one · 2016Pooled it
- Strategies to reduce curative antibiotic therapy in intensive care units (adult and paediatric).Intensive care medicine · 2015Guideline
- Procalcitonin-guided therapy in intensive care unit patients with severe sepsis and septic shock--a systematic review and meta-analysis.Critical care (London, England) · 2013Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of the point-of-care procalcitonin test for determining the antibiotic treatment duration in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit: a randomised controlled trial.Anaesthesiology intensive therapy · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Risk factors for predicting acute kidney injury in children with septic shock: a retrospective cohort study.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Article
- Review
- Infective Complications of Endobronchial Ultrasound-Transbronchial Needle Aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and Clinical Biomarkers: A Concise Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Inflammatory biomarkers as predictors of systemic vs isolated pocket infection in patients undergoing transvenous lead extraction.Heart rhythm O2 · 2024Article
- The Association of Procalcitonin and C-Reactive Protein with Bacterial Infections Acquired during Intensive Care Unit Stay in COVID-19 Critically Ill Patients.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Management of Intra-Abdominal Infections: The Role of Procalcitonin.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Compliance with a Procalcitonin-Based Protocol in Patients with Ventilation-Associated Pneumonia: An Observational, Retrospective Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Aetiologies of Acute Complications in Autoimmune Rheumatologic Diseases: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study.Cureus · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeWe sought to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of procalcitonin(PCT)-guided antibiotic therapy algorithms for critically ill adult patients.
methodsWe performed a search in PubMed and in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Seven evaluable randomised clinical trials (RCTs) were identified and analysed. Primary outcomes included the duration of antibiotic therapy for the first episode of infection and 28-day mortality. Secondary outcomes included length of ICU stay, length of hospitalisation, antibiotic-free days within the first 28 days of hospitalisation, recurrences, and superinfections.
resultsData on the duration of antibiotic therapy for the first episode of infection were provided in five out of seven included RCTs, while data on 28-day mortality were provided in all of the included RCTs. Duration of antibiotic therapy for the first episode of infection was reduced in favour of PCT-guided treatment [pooled weighted mean difference (WMD) = -3.15 days, random effects model, 95 % confidence interval (CI) -4.36 to -1.95, P < 0.001]. There was no difference in 28-day mortality between the compared arms [fixed effect model (FEM), odds ratio = 0.96, 95 % CI 0.79-1.15, P = 0.63). Antibiotic-free days were increased within the first 28 days of hospitalisation in favour of the PCT-guided treatment arm (pooled WMD = 3.08 days, FEM, 95 % CI 2.06-4.10, P < 0.001). No difference was found regarding the remaining outcomes. Sensitivity analyses including studies of higher quality and studies using the TRACE method to measure PCT yielded similar results.
conclusionsProcalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy algorithms could help in reducing the duration of antimicrobial administration without having a negative impact on survival.
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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.