ArticleHospital pediatrics2019
Procalcitonin as a Predictive Marker for Bacteremia in Children With a Central Line and Fever.
Article in Hospital pediatrics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Paediatric Perspective: Opportunities and Challenges in Emergency Department Antimicrobial Stewardship.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Evaluation of procalcitonin as a marker of bacterial sepsis in children in Owerri, Nigeria.African health sciences · 2025Article
- Prognosis prediction of procalcitonin within 24 h for acute diquat poisoning.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Procalcitonin is associated with sudden unexpected death in infancy due to infection.European journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Diagnostic and Prognostic Roles of Procalcitonin and Other Tools in Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Narrative Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The evolving value of older biomarkers in the clinical diagnosis of pediatric sepsis.Pediatric research · 2023Review
- Prospective Observational Study to Determine Kinetics of Procalcitonin in Hospitalized Children Receiving Antibiotic Therapy for Non-Critical Acute Bacterial Infections.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2021Article
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9 authors.
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Abstract
objectivesUnnecessary use of antibiotics is an increasing problem. In this study, we sought to determine the diagnostic accuracy of procalcitonin in predicting bacteremia in children with a central line and fever, and we sought to determine optimal cutoff values to maximize sensitivity and specificity. This is the largest study to date in which procalcitonin is examined as a predictive marker of bacteremia in pediatric patients with a central line and fever.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of children aged 0 to 23 years with a central line and fever of 38°C who had procalcitonin and blood cultures drawn before initiation of antibiotics and had no other identified bacterial infection. Patients were also prospectively monitored via a custom-built electronic medical record dashboard for eligibility.
resultsThere were 523 patients and >2500 procalcitonin values reviewed for eligibility. Of these, 169 (47%) patients and 335 blood cultures with procalcitonin were included. There were 94 (28%) positive bacterial blood cultures and 241 (72%) negative bacterial blood cultures. In bacteremic cultures, the mean procalcitonin level was 9.96 ± 15.96 ng/mL, and the median procalcitonin level was 4.85 ng/mL (interquartile range 18.5). In nonbacteremic cultures, the mean procalcitonin level was 1.23 ± 10.37 ng/mL, and the median procalcitonin level was 0.3 ng/mL (interquartile range 0.7). A receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated a procalcitonin level of ≥0.6 ng/mL as the best cutoff point that produced a sensitivity of 85.6% and a specificity of 65.7% (area under the curve 0.85).
conclusionsProcalcitonin is a sensitive biomarker in predicting bacteremia in children with a central line and fever.
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