ArticleBMC infectious diseases2026
Association of procalcitonin levels with multidrug-resistant bloodstream infections: a prospective cohort study.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundProcalcitonin (PCT) is widely used for early detection of bloodstream infections. However, limited data correlate PCT levels with infection aetiology, especially in identifying multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens.
methodsThis prospective study included patients with bloodstream infections (BSIs) from January 2022 to April 2024. Patients with positive blood cultures and simultaneous PCT testing were enrolled. The primary objective was to evaluate the association between PCT levels and MDR bacteremia. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of PCT.
resultsA total of 317 patients with positive blood cultures met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 186 (58.7%) had MDR bacteremia, while 131 (41.3%) were due to non-MDR pathogens. Gram-negative (GN) bacteremia accounted for 238 cases, and Gram-positive (GP) bacteremia for 79 cases. Median PCT values were significantly higher in MDR bacteremia (9.6, IQR: 3.4-17.1 ng/mL) compared to non-MDR (1.5, IQR: 0.5-4 ng/mL, p < 0.001). ROC analysis showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.71 for PCT and 0.47 for CRP in predicting MDR bacteremia. For GN bacteremia prediction, the AUC was 0.61 for PCT and 0.39 for CRP. PCT values were highest in urinary tract infections, followed by pneumonia and soft tissue infections (11.75, 5.65, and 5.1 ng/mL, respectively).
conclusionsPCT demonstrated moderate ability to discriminate MDR bacteremia. However, these results do not support its use as a standalone marker and must be interpreted with clinical and microbiological findings.
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.