Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Prescription in Patients With COVID-19: A Multicenter Observational Cohort Study.
Chest
; 164(3): 596-605, 2023 09.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37116748
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Despite the low rate of bacterial coinfection, antibiotics are very commonly prescribed in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. RESEARCH QUESTION Does the use of a procalcitonin (PCT)-guided antibiotic protocol safely reduce the use of antibiotics in patients with a COVID-19 infection? STUDY DESIGN ANDMETHODS:
In this multicenter cohort, three groups of patients with COVID-19 were compared in terms of antibiotic consumption, namely one group treated based on a PCT-algorithm in one hospital (n = 216) and two control groups, consisting of patients from the same hospital (n = 57) and of patients from three similar hospitals (n = 486) without PCT measurements during the same period. The primary end point was antibiotic prescription in the first week of admission.RESULTS:
Antibiotic prescription during the first 7 days was 26.8% in the PCT group, 43.9% in the non-PCT group in the same hospital, and 44.7% in the non-PCT group in other hospitals. Patients in the PCT group had lower odds of receiving antibiotics in the first 7 days of admission (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.16-0.66 compared with the same hospital; OR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.28-0.62 compared with the other hospitals). The proportion of patients receiving antibiotic prescription during the total admission was 35.2%, 43.9%, and 54.5%, respectively. The PCT group had lower odds of receiving antibiotics during the total admission only when compared with the other hospitals (OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.08-0.63). There were no significant differences in other secondary end points, except for readmission in the PCT group vs the other hospitals group.INTERPRETATION:
PCT-guided antibiotic prescription reduces antibiotic prescription rates in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, without major safety concerns.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Bacterial Infections
/
Coinfection
/
Procalcitonin
/
COVID-19
/
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Etiology_studies
/
Guideline
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Chest
Year:
2023
Type:
Article