ArticleAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)2021
Use of Procalcitonin during the First Wave of COVID-19 in the Acute NHS Hospitals: A Retrospective Observational Study.
Article in Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Procalcitonin evaluation of antibiotic use in COVID-19 hospitalised patients: The PEACH mixed methods study.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Article
- Article
- Real-world interpretation of procalcitonin to guide antibiotic prescribing: a retrospective cohort study with regression discontinuity analysis.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2025Article
- A retrospective propensity-score-matched cohort study of the impact of procalcitonin testing on antibiotic use in hospitalized patients during the first wave of COVID-19.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2024Observational
- The cost-effectiveness of procalcitonin for guiding antibiotic prescribing in individuals hospitalized with COVID-19: part of the PEACH study.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2024Article
- Mapping decision-making pathways: Determination of intervention entry points for diagnostic tests in suspected serious infection.NIHR open research · 2024Article
- Article
- biomArker-guided Duration of Antibiotic treatment in hospitalised Patients with suspecTed Sepsis (ADAPT-Sepsis): A protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial.Journal of the Intensive Care Society · 2023Article
- Provision of Microbiology, Infection Services and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Intensive Care: A Survey across the Critical Care Networks in England and Wales.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Procalcitonin Values Fail to Track the Presence of Secondary Bacterial Infections in COVID-19 ICU Patients.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Hematological Parameters and Procalcitonin as Discriminants between Bacterial Pneumonia-Induced Sepsis and Viral Sepsis Secondary to COVID-19: A Retrospective Single-Center Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Observational
- Procalcitonin Evaluation of Antibiotic Use in COVID-19 Hospitalised Patients (PEACH): Protocol for a Retrospective Observational Study.Methods and protocols · 2022Article
- COVID-19 Mixed Impact on Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Activities: A Qualitative Study in UK-Based Hospitals.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The Association between Admission Procalcitonin Level and The Severity of COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Article
- Procalcitonin Is Not a Reliable Biomarker of Bacterial Coinfection in People With Coronavirus Disease 2019 Undergoing Microbiological Investigation at the Time of Hospital Admission.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Impact of introducing procalcitonin testing on antibiotic usage in acute NHS hospitals during the first wave of COVID-19 in the UK: a controlled interrupted time series analysis of organization-level data.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2022Article
- C-reactive protein-guided use of procalcitonin in COVID-19.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2021Article
- Procalcitonin Increase Is Associated with the Development of Critical Care-Acquired Infections in COVID-19 ARDS.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Procalcitonin to Guide Antibacterial Prescribing in Patients Hospitalised with COVID-19.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Differences in Inflammatory Marker Kinetics between the First and Second Wave of COVID-19 Patients Admitted to the ICU: A Retrospective, Single-Center Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
23 authors at 15 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
A minority of patients presenting to hospital with COVID-19 have bacterial co-infection. Procalcitonin testing may help identify patients for whom antibiotics should be prescribed or withheld. This study describes the use of procalcitonin in English and Welsh hospitals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A web-based survey of antimicrobial leads gathered data about the use of procalcitonin testing. Responses were received from 148/151 (98%) eligible hospitals. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was widespread introduction and expansion of PCT use in NHS hospitals. The number of hospitals using PCT in emergency/acute admissions rose from 17 (11%) to 74/146 (50.7%) and use in Intensive Care Units (ICU) increased from 70 (47.6%) to 124/147 (84.4%). This increase happened predominantly in March and April 2020, preceding NICE guidance. Approximately half of hospitals used PCT as a single test to guide decisions to discontinue antibiotics and half used repeated measurements. There was marked variation in the thresholds used for empiric antibiotic cessation and guidance about interpretation of values. Procalcitonin testing has been widely adopted in the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic in an unevidenced, heterogeneous way and in conflict with relevant NICE guidance. Further research is needed urgently that assesses the impact of this change on antibiotic prescribing and patient safety.
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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.