ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2023
Reduced Reliability of Procalcitonin (PCT) as a Biomarker of Bacterial Superinfection: Concerns about PCT-Driven Antibiotic Stewardship in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients-Results from a Retrospective Observational Study in Intensive Care Units.
Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- The Role and Importance of Procalcitonin (PCT) Testing in Rational Antibiotic Prescribing and Antibiotic Stewardship Programs.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2026Review
- Lactate dehydrogenase-to-albumin ratio as a potential prognostic indicator in glucocorticoid-treated severe pneumonia: a multicenter retrospective study with external validation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Mapping Interactions Between Cytokines, Chemokines, Growth Factors, and Conventional Biomarkers in COVID-19 ICU-Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Building a diagnostic prediction model for severeFrontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Are C-reactive protein and procalcitonin safe and useful for antimicrobial stewardship purposes in patients with COVID-19? A scoping review.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2024Article
- Special Issue "Clinical Consequences of COVID-19": Taking a Look at Complexity.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Admission Acute Brain Dysfunction and In-ICU Mortality in a Single-Center Pre-Vaccination Romanian COVID-19 Cohort:A Retrospective Observational Analysis.Current health sciences journalArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe aim of this study was to assess whether procalcitonin levels is a diagnostic tool capable of accurately identifying sepsis and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) even in critically ill COVID-19 patients.
methodsIn this retrospective, observational study, all critically ill COVID-19 patients who survived for ≥2 days in a single university hospital and had at least one serum procalcitonin (PCT) value and associated blood culture and/or culture from a lower respiratory tract specimen available were eligible for the study.
resultsOver the research period, 184 patients were recruited; 67 VAP/BSI occurred, with an incidence rate of 21.82 episodes of VAP/BSI (95% CI: 17.18-27.73) per 1000 patient-days among patients who were included. At the time of a positive microbiological culture, an average PCT level of 1.25-3.2 ng/mL was found. Moreover, also in subjects without positive cultures, PCT was altered in 21.7% of determinations, with an average value of 1.04-5.5 ng/mL. Both PCT and PCT-72 h were not linked to a diagnosis of VAP/BSI in COVID-19 patients, according to the multivariable GEE models (aOR 1.13, 95% CI 0.51-2.52 for PCT; aOR 1.32, 95% CI 0.66-2.64 for PCT-72 h).
conclusionElevated PCT levels might not always indicate bacterial superinfections or coinfections in a severe COVID-19 setting.
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