{"doi":"10.1017/ice.2025.35","title":"Real-word utility of procalcitonin in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia: A matched cohort study","abstract":"Abstract\n \n Objective:\n To retrospectively observe procalcitonin (PCT) and antibiotic ordering practices in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).\n \n \n Design:\n Retrospective, exact matched, multicenter cohort study from October 1, 2018 – March 31, 2023.\n \n \n Setting:\n All hospitals across the Mayo Clinic Enterprise.\n \n \n Participants:\n Adult patients with CAP, identified using pneumonia diagnosis codes and receipt of systemic antibiotics with an indication of “respiratory tract infection” within 48 hours of hospitalization.\n \n \n Methods:\n PCT testing within the first 7 days of hospitalization was compared to non-PCT care (nPCT). The primary outcomes were treatment duration, antibiotic days of therapy (DOT), and length of stay (LOS).\n \n \n Results:\n \n 15364 patients met inclusion criteria. PCT testing occurred in 42.4% (6515/15364) of encounters, totaling 8214 PCT results. 12880 unique patient encounters were matched 1:1, 6440 in each group. Treatment duration was longer in the PCT group compared to the nPCT group (5.1 vs 4.6 days, respectively,\n P\n < 0.001). Patients in the PCT group also received more DOT (8.6 vs 7.6 DOT,\n P\n < 0.001) and had a longer LOS (6.8 vs 5.9 days,\n P\n < 0.001), respectively. There was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality or\n C. difficile\n infection between groups. In a sensitivity analysis of nPCT patients compared to those with a peak value <0.25 ng/mL (i.e. normal result) there was no difference in treatment duration (4.6 days nPCT vs 4.7 days normal PCT,\n P\n = 0.104) or LOS (5.9 days nPCT vs 6.0 days normal PCT,\n P\n = 0.134).\n \n \n \n Conclusion:\n PCT testing in patients hospitalized with CAP was not associated with reduced antimicrobial utilization, LOS, or 30-day all-cause mortality.\n ","journal":"Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology","year":2025,"id":633972,"datarank":0.20794415416798362,"base_score":1.3862943611198906,"endowment":1.3862943611198906,"self_citation_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1643979,"name":"Dylan Kosaski","orcid":"0000-0002-2036-0965","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":850748,"name":"Maria Teresa Seville","orcid":"0000-0002-7384-2685","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1643982,"name":"Alyssa K. McGary","orcid":"0009-0006-6654-570X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":452677,"name":"John C. O’Horo","orcid":"0000-0002-0880-4498","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":589378,"name":"Christine L.H. Snozek","orcid":"0000-0003-0769-7165","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1079716,"name":"Ryan W. Stevens","orcid":"0000-0002-5050-6689","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1138920,"name":"Aditya Shah","orcid":"0000-0002-2023-394X","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1643977,"name":"Dan Ilges","orcid":"0000-0003-0778-3901","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Real-word utility of procalcitonin in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia: A matched cohort study","abstract":"Abstract\n \n Objective:\n To retrospectively observe procalcitonin (PCT) and antibiotic ordering practices in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).\n \n \n Design:\n Retrospective, exact matched, multicenter cohort study from October 1, 2018 – March 31, 2023.\n \n \n Setting:\n All hospitals across the Mayo Clinic Enterprise.\n \n \n Participants:\n Adult patients with CAP, identified using pneumonia diagnosis codes and receipt of systemic antibiotics with an indication of “respiratory tract infection” within 48 hours of hospitalization.\n \n \n Methods:\n PCT testing within the first 7 days of hospitalization was compared to non-PCT care (nPCT). The primary outcomes were treatment duration, antibiotic days of therapy (DOT), and length of stay (LOS).\n \n \n Results:\n \n 15364 patients met inclusion criteria. PCT testing occurred in 42.4% (6515/15364) of encounters, totaling 8214 PCT results. 12880 unique patient encounters were matched 1:1, 6440 in each group. Treatment duration was longer in the PCT group compared to the nPCT group (5.1 vs 4.6 days, respectively,\n P\n < 0.001). Patients in the PCT group also received more DOT (8.6 vs 7.6 DOT,\n P\n < 0.001) and had a longer LOS (6.8 vs 5.9 days,\n P\n < 0.001), respectively. There was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality or\n C. difficile\n infection between groups. In a sensitivity analysis of nPCT patients compared to those with a peak value <0.25 ng/mL (i.e. normal result) there was no difference in treatment duration (4.6 days nPCT vs 4.7 days normal PCT,\n P\n = 0.104) or LOS (5.9 days nPCT vs 6.0 days normal PCT,\n P\n = 0.134).\n \n \n \n Conclusion:\n PCT testing in patients hospitalized with CAP was not associated with reduced antimicrobial utilization, LOS, or 30-day all-cause mortality.\n ","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":1.3862943611198906,"endowment":1.3862943611198906,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"40017121","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4408041347","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":2.2806,"citation_percentile":0.86845119,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":1},{"year":2026,"count":2}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0899823X25000352","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2025.35","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40017121","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment","Pneumonia and Respiratory Infections","Nosocomial Infections in ICU","Humans","Procalcitonin","Community-Acquired Infections","Male","Retrospective Studies","Female","Aged","Anti-Bacterial Agents","Length of Stay","Middle Aged","Hospitalization","Pneumonia","Aged, 80 and over","Duration of Therapy","Community-Acquired Pneumonia"],"mesh_terms":["Procalcitonin","Duration of Therapy","Community-Acquired Pneumonia","Aged","Aged, 80 and over","Anti-Bacterial Agents","Female","Hospitalization","Humans","Length of Stay","Male","Middle Aged","Pneumonia","Retrospective Studies","Community-Acquired Infections"],"keywords":["Procalcitonin","Medicine","Community-acquired pneumonia","Pneumonia","Internal medicine","Retrospective cohort study","Cohort","Antibiotics","Cohort study","Surgery","Sepsis"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-06T12:57:39.317519Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}