Impact of Procalcitonin Testing on Antibiotic Use in Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Multi-Hospital Cohort Study - PubMed
5 hours ago
- #community-acquired pneumonia
- #procalcitonin
- #antibiotic stewardship
- The study examines the real-world impact of procalcitonin (PCT) testing on antibiotic prescribing in hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients.
- Among 17,290 non-ICU CAP admissions, PCT testing was performed for 59.5% of patients within 24 hours.
- PCT testing was associated with a shorter antibiotic duration (adjusted mean difference: -0.32 days) but did not significantly affect early de-escalation of extended-spectrum antibiotics.
- Patients with low PCT values (<0.1 μg/L) received shorter antibiotic courses than those with high values (adjusted mean difference: -0.56 days).
- PCT testing led to modest differences in antibiotic duration, primarily when PCT values were low.