Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
-
Clin. Microbiol. Infect. · Dec 2018
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyProcalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy in patients with fever in a general emergency department population: a multicentre non-inferiority randomized clinical trial (HiTEMP study).
Overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics in emergency departments (EDs) results in antibiotic resistance. We determined whether procalcitonin (PCT) -guided therapy can be used to reduce antibiotic regimens in EDs by investigating efficacy, safety and accuracy. ⋯ PCT-guided therapy was non-inferior in terms of safety, but did not reduce prescription of antibiotic regimens in an ED population with fever. In this heterogeneous population, the accuracy of PCT in diagnosing bacterial infections was poor. TRIAL REGISTRATION IN NETHERLANDS TRIAL REGISTER: http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=4949.