Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Procalcitonin and C-Reactive Protein Levels in Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Correlation with Etiology and Prognosis

  • CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES
  • Published:
Infection Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Background: The diagnostic value of admission serum levels of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as indicators of the etiology and prognosis was prospectively investigated.

Patients: 96 patients, 50–85 years of age, treated in the hospital for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Results: On admission, all patients had elevated CRP levels (> 10 mg/l), but only 60 patients (54%) had elevated PCT levels (> 0.1 μg/l). The severity of disease measured by APACHE II score was strongly associated with admission levels of PCT (p = 0.006), but not with CRP. Eight of nine patients with pneumonia caused by atypical agents had PCT levels < 0.5 μg/l compared with 6/27 patients with pneumonia caused by classical bacterial pathogens, mainly Streptococcus pneumoniae (p = 0.03). No such correlation between CRP levels and etiology was found.

Conclusion: Our data indicate that in patients admitted to the hospital with CAP, measurement of PCT gives information about the severity of the disease, and may aid the physician to differentiate typical bacterial etiology from atypical etiology, and thereby to choose appropriate initial antibiotic treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Received: June 7, 1999 · Revision accepted: January 17, 2000

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hedlund, J., Hansson, LO. Procalcitonin and C-Reactive Protein Levels in Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Correlation with Etiology and Prognosis. Infection 28, 68–73 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s150100050049

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s150100050049

Navigation