ReviewCureus2026
Procalcitonin-Guided Strategies for Reducing Antibiotic Use in CAP, HAP, VAP, and COPD: Insights From a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Cureus, 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
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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
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
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Procalcitonin (PCT)-guided therapy may optimize antibiotic use in respiratory infections and chronic lung diseases. This systematic review aimed to assess the role of PCT-guided protocols in reducing antibiotic duration, length of hospital and ICU stay, and clinical outcomes in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A secondary literature search was conducted using the databases PubMed and Google Scholar to identify the relevant studies published between January 2003 and December 2023. Eligible studies included peer-reviewed original research (clinical trials, observational, cohort, and case-control studies) evaluating PCT in CAP, VAP, HAP, or COPD, including viral and/or bacterial lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in humans. The excluded studies were animal studies, studies not involving LRTIs, PCT studies lacking extractable data, and non-peer-reviewed editorials, opinions, and conference abstracts. Inconsistency across studies was assessed by heterogeneity analyses and publication bias using funnel plots. Twenty-four studies involving 16,134 patients were included. Across all conditions, PCT-guided therapy reduced antibiotic duration, particularly in CAP, without increasing mortality. Studies included in the CAP group reported that patients in the PCT group benefited from a shorter duration of therapy, with the treatment period decreasing from an average of 13.3±6.5 days in the control group to 11.7±6.2 days in the PCT group. Similarly, the PCT group had significantly reduced ICU stays. For COPD, hospital stay was significantly reduced, though fewer studies demonstrated ICU benefits. PCT-guided protocols may effectively help in better treatment strategies for CAP and COPD management.
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Registered trials
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