Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy may shorten length of treatment and may improve survival-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Appropriate antibiotic (AB) therapy remains a challenge in the intensive care unit (ICU). Procalcitonin (PCT)-guided AB stewardship could help optimize AB treatment and decrease AB-related adverse effects, but firm evidence is still lacking. Our aim was to compare the effects of PCT-guided AB therapy with standard of care (SOC) in critically ill patients.

Methods

We searched databases CENTRAL, Embase and Medline. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing PCT-guided AB therapy (PCT group) with SOC reporting on length of AB therapy, mortality, recurrent and secondary infection, ICU length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS or healthcare costs. Due to recent changes in sepsis definitions, subgroup analyses were performed in studies applying the Sepsis-3 defi

SUBMITTER: Papp M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10576288 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature