ArticlePloS one2023
The budget impact of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship compared to standard of care for patients with suspected sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit in Belgium.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health Economic Evaluations in Intensive Care: An Updated Systematic Review.Critical care explorations · 2025Pooled it
- Use of procalcitonin point-of-care testing to guide de-escalation of antibiotic therapy in adults with suspected bacterial sepsis in a tertiary hospital in Bangladesh: a randomised controlled open-label trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- The Role and Importance of Procalcitonin (PCT) Testing in Rational Antibiotic Prescribing and Antibiotic Stewardship Programs.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2026Review
- Cost-effectiveness of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic duration for hospitalized patients with sepsis.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Article
- Procalcitonin Guided Antibiotic Stewardship.Biomarker insights · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In Belgium, antibiotic resistance leads to approximately 530 deaths with a €24 million financial burden annually. This study estimated the impact of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship programs to reduce antibiotic consumption versus standard of care in patients with suspected sepsis. A decision analytic tree modelled health and budget outcomes of procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship programs for patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). A literature search, a survey with local clinical experts, and national database searches were conducted to obtain model input parameters. The main outcomes were total budget impact per patient, reduction in number of antibiotic resistance cases, and cost per antibiotic day avoided. To evaluate the impact of parameter uncertainty on the source data, a deterministic sensitivity analysis was performed. A scenario analysis was conducted to investigate budget impact when including parameters for reduction in length of ICU stay and mechanical ventilation duration, in addition to base-case parameters. Based on model predictions, procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship programs could reduce the number of antibiotic days by 66,868, resulting in €1.98 million savings towards antibiotic treatment in current clinical practice. Antibiotic resistance cases could decrease by 7.7% (6.1% vs 9.2%) in the procalcitonin-guided setting compared with standard of care. The base-case budget impact suggests an investment of €1.90 per patient. The sensitivity analysis showed uncertainty, as the main drivers can alter potential cost savings. The scenario analysis indicated a saving of €1,405 per patient, with a reduction of 1.5 days in the ICU (14.8 days vs 12.8 days), and a reduction of 22.7% (18.1-27.2%) in mechanical ventilation duration. The associated sensitivity analysis was shown to be robust in all parameters. Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic stewardship programs are associated with clinical benefits that positively influence antimicrobial resistance in Belgium. A small investment per patient to implement procalcitonin testing may lead to considerable cost savings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.