C-reactive protein-guided use of procalcitonin in COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A low procalcitonin (PCT) concentration facilitates exclusion of bacterial co-infections in COVID-19, but high costs associated with PCT measurements preclude universal adoption. Changes in inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), can be concordant, and predicting low PCT concentrations may avoid costs of redundant tests and support more cost-effective deployment of this diagnostic biomarker.

Objectives

To explore whether, in COVID-19, low PCT values could be predicted by the presence of low CRP concentrations.

Methods

Unselected cohort of 224 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital that underwent daily PCT and CRP measurements as standard care. Both 0.25 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL were used as cut-offs for positive PCT test results. Geometric mean

SUBMITTER: Houghton R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8633792 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature