Impact of procalcitonin-guided therapy for hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia on reducing antibiotic consumption and costs in Japan

Background and objective: This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of procalcitonin-guided therapy in hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia patients to reduce antibiotic duration and costs without worsening prognosis.

Methods: 352 hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia patients in an observational cohort study in which procalcitonin was measured three times serially, on admission (Day 1) and 2-3 days (Day 3) and 6-8 days (Day 7) after admission, between October 2010 and February 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. Antibiotics could be stopped if Day 7 procalcitonin was <0.25 ng mL^-1 or ≤10% of the higher value of procalcitonin on Day 1 or 3. Antibiotic duration and costs and recurrence and mortality rates were evaluated in mild to moderate or severe pneumonia by theoretical procalcitonin guidance for community-acquired pneumonia treatment.

Results: Using theoretical procalcitonin guidance, antibiotic duration could be reduced from 12.6 to 8.6 days (P < 0.001), while costs could be reduced from 45,833 to 38,952 yen (P = 0.005). Among the patients in whom theoretical procalcitonin guidance could be adopted, recurrence rates (5.6% vs. 8.1%, P = 0.15) and mortality rates (0% vs. 5.1%, P = 0.07) did not worsen between the group having the same antibiotic durations as with theoretical procalcitonin guidance in actual practice (N = 71) and the group having durations more than 2 days longer in actual practice than in theoretical procalcitonin guidance (N = 198). There was no significant difference in pneumonia severity using A-DROP, CURB-65, and PSI between two groups.

Conclusions: Procalcitonin-guided therapy may be useful in hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia patients to reduce antibiotic duration and costs without worsening the prognosis.