Trial reportBMC pulmonary medicine2021
C-reactive protein or procalcitonin combined with rhinorrhea for discrimination of viral from bacterial infections in hospitalized adults in non-intensive care units with lower respiratory tract infections.
Trial report in BMC pulmonary medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 3 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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Non-Infectious Causes for Elevated Procalcitonin.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Pooled it
- Diagnostic value of procalcitonin for identifying the etiology of lower respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness of point-of-care diagnostics for AMR: a systematic review.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2024Pooled it
- C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A protein as complementary biomarkers in differentiating viral and bacterial community-acquired pneumonia in children.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Persistently high plasma procalcitonin levels despite successful treatment of tuberculous pleuritis and tuberculous lymphadenitis patients.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Early Biomarker-Guided Prediction of Bloodstream Infection in Critically Ill Patients: C-Reactive Protein, Procalcitonin, and Leukocytes.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhether procalcitonin (PCT) or C-reactive protein (CRP) combined with certain clinical characteristics can better distinguish viral from bacterial infections remains unclear. The aim of the study was to assess the ability of PCT or CRP combined with clinical characteristics to distinguish between viral and bacterial infections in hospitalized non-intensive care unit (ICU) adults with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI).
methodsThis was a post-hoc analysis of a randomized clinical trial previously conducted among LRTI patients. The ability of PCT, CRP and PCT or CRP combined with clinical symptoms to discriminate between viral and bacterial infection were assessed by portraying receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves among patients with only a viral or a typical bacterial infection.
resultsIn total, 209 infected patients (viral 69%, bacterial 31%) were included in the study. When using CRP or PCT to discriminate between viral and bacterial LRTI, the optimal cut-off points were 22 mg/L and 0.18 ng/mL, respectively. When the optimal cut-off for CRP (≤ 22 mg/L) or PCT (≤ 0.18 ng/mL) combined with rhinorrhea was used to discriminate viral from bacterial LRTI, the AUCs were 0.81 (95% CI: 0.75-0.87) and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.74-0.86), which was statistically significantly better than when CRP or PCT used alone (p < 0.001). When CRP ≤ 22 mg/L, PCT ≤ 0.18 ng/mL and rhinorrhea were combined, the AUC was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.80-0.91), which was statistically significantly higher than when CRP (≤ 22 mg/L) or PCT (≤ 0.18 ng/mL) was combined with rhinorrhea (p = 0.011 and p = 0.021).
conclusionsEither CRP ≤ 22 mg/L or PCT ≤ 0.18 ng/mL combined with rhinorrhea could help distinguish viral from bacterial infections in hospitalized non-ICU adults with LRTI. When rhinorrhea was combined together, discrimination ability was further improved.
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