SynthesisClinical rheumatology2014
Can procalcitonin be used to distinguish between disease flare and infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a systematic literature review.
Synthesis in Clinical rheumatology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of plasma/serum levels of procalcitonin between infection and febrile disease flare in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a meta-analysis.Rheumatology international · 2017Pooled it
- Acute Lupus Pneumonitis and Severe Multisystem Complications: A Complex Inpatient Course.Cureus · 2025Article
- 2025 Chinese guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus.Rheumatology and immunology research · 2025Article
- Bacterial infection in patients with juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus and fever.Pediatric rheumatology online journal · 2025Article
- Procalcitonin serum level in patients with pemphigus vulgaris: can it be used as an inflammatory biomarker?Archives of dermatological research · 2024Article
- Infection versus disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with fever.BMC rheumatology · 2024Article
- Acute kidney injury in critical care: complications of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Procalcitonin for the early discrimination of fever etiology in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases attending the emergency department.Internal and emergency medicine · 2023Article
- The role of MBL, PCT, CRP, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet lymphocyte ratio in differentiating infections from flares in lupus.Clinical rheumatology · 2022Article
- Performance of Procalcitonin to Distinguish Fungal from Bacterial Infections in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.Infection and drug resistance · 2021Article
- Development of Prediction Models for New Integrated Models and a Bioscore System to Identify Bacterial Infections in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- 2020 Chinese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.Rheumatology and immunology research · 2020Article
- Differential parameters between activity flare and acute infection in pediatric patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Acute lupus pneumonitis as the initial presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus.BMJ case reports · 2020Article
- Article
- Triggers of Autoimmunity: The Role of Bacterial Infections in the Extracellular Exposure of Lupus Nuclear Autoantigens.Frontiers in immunology · 2019Review
- Flares in systemic lupus erythematosus: diagnosis, risk factors and preventive strategies.Mediterranean journal of rheumatology · 2017Review
- Childhood Lupus--Diagnosis and Management.Indian journal of pediatrics · 2016Review
- Sometimes There Is More Than One Puzzle on the Table: Pneumococcal Bacteremia as a New Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Presentation.Case reports in infectious diseases · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Distinction between infection and febrile disease flare in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is fundamental but often difficult to make, because clinical presentation can be similar. A systematic review of all articles indexed in PubMed through October 2013 was performed, in order to examine the potential role of procalcitonin (PCT) for the discrimination between SLE flare and infection. Among the 12 papers identified, 5 articles reported on PCT levels in SLE patients without infection, 6 compared PCT levels between SLE patients with flare versus those with infection, and 1 analyzed PCT levels in active patients with and without bacterial infection. These data suggest the absence of correlation between PCT levels and SLE disease activity. Furthermore, PCT levels detected during disease flares are lower than those observed during bacterial infections. PCT can therefore be used accurately in the early differentiation between bacterial infection and flare in febrile SLE patients. Raised PCT levels ≥0.5 μg/L should strongly suggest bacterial infection in the context of SLE, keeping in mind the limited data available in case of hemophagocytic syndrome. Elevated PCT levels in SLE patients should always prompt a thorough search for sources of potential infection.
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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.