Trial reportBMC geriatrics2022
Procalcitonin to reduce exposure to antibiotics and individualise treatment in hospitalised old patients with pneumonia: a randomised study.
Trial report in BMC geriatrics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT02173613 (Reduction of the Duration of Antibiotic Guided by Procalcitonin in Infections Lungs of Hospitalized Elderly), which is not on this map. Cited by 9 papers.
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.
Reduction of the Duration of Antibiotic Guided by Procalcitonin in Infections Lungs of Hospitalized Elderly: a Randomized
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dynamic procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship among cancer patients in the UK.Journal of medical microbiology · 2026Article
- Guidelines for the Initial Assessment of Respiratory Distress in the Emergency Department.Annals of intensive care · 2026Article
- Article
- The use and misuse of procalcitonin in the management of pneumonia: a retrospective analysis at a large tertiary care center.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2025Article
- Duration of Antimicrobial Treatment in Adult Patients with Pneumonia: A Narrative Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The critically ill older patient with sepsis: a narrative review.Annals of intensive care · 2024Review
- Procalcitonin Guided Antibiotic Stewardship.Biomarker insights · 2024Review
- Biomarkers for risk stratification and antibiotic stewardship in elderly patients.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2023Review
- Correction: Procalcitonin to reduce exposure to antibiotics and individualise treatment in hospitalised old patients with pneumonia: a randomised study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTreating pneumonia in old patients remains challenging for clinicians. Moreover, bacterial antimicrobial resistance is a major public health threat.
objectiveThe PROPAGE study evaluated the interest of a strategy using serial measurements of procalcitonin (PCT) to reduce the duration of antibiotic therapy in old patients with pneumonia.
methodsPROPAGE took place from Dec.-2013 to Jun.-2016 in eight French geriatric units. It was a prospective, comparative, randomised, open-label study involving old patients (≥ 80 years) who had initiated antibiotic treatment for pneumonia in the previous 48 h. PCT was monitored in all patients and two decision-making PCT-based algorithms guided antibiotic therapy in patients from the PCT group.
results107 patients were randomised (PCT, n = 50; Control, n = 57). Antibiotic therapy exposure was reduced in the PCT group as compared to the Control group (median duration of antibiotic therapy, 8 vs. 10 days [rank-test, p = 0.001]; antibiotic persistence rates on Days 6 and 8, 54% and 44% vs. 91% and 72%) and no significant difference was found in recovery rate (84% vs. 89.5%; Pearson Chi² test, p = 0.402).
conclusionAlthough, the superiority of the strategy was not tested using a composite criterion combining antibiotic therapy duration and recovery rate was not tested due to the small sample size, the present study showed that monitoring associated with PCT-guided algorithm could help shorten antibiotic treatment duration in the very old patients without detrimental effects. Measuring PCT levels between Day 4 and Day 6 could be helpful when making the decision regarding antibiotic discontinuation.
trial registrationNCT02173613. This study was first registered on 25/06/2014.
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