Impact of Procalcitonin Testing on Antibiotic Use in Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Multi-Hospital Cohort Study

Key Points

• The aim is to evaluate how procalcitonin testing affects antibiotic use in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia.
• Conducted a multi-hospital cohort study
• Focused on non-ICU patients
• Analyzed differences in antibiotic duration based on procalcitonin levels
• Procalcitonin testing led to modest differences in antibiotic duration
• Effects were more pronounced when procalcitonin values were low