AUTHOR=Baumann Philipp , Baer Gurli , Bonhoeffer Jessica , Fuchs Aline , Gotta Verena , Heininger Ulrich , Ritz Nicole , Szinnai Gabor , Bonhoeffer Jan 

TITLE=Procalcitonin for Diagnostics and Treatment Decisions in Pediatric Lower Respiratory Tract Infections

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2017.00183

DOI=10.3389/fped.2017.00183

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<p>Mortality and morbidity remain high in pediatric lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) despite progress in research and implementation of global diagnostic and treatment strategies in the last decade. Still, 120 million annual episodes of pneumonia affect children younger than 5 years each year leading to 1.3 million fatalities with the major burden of disease carried by low- and middle-income countries (95%). The definition of pneumonia is still challenging. Traditional diagnostic measures (i.e., chest radiographs, C-reactive protein) are unable to distinguish viral and from bacterial etiology. As a result, common antibiotic overuse contributes to growing antibiotic resistance. We present an overview of current evidence from observational and randomized controlled trials on a procalcitonin (PCT)-based diagnosis of pediatric LRTIs and discuss the need for an adequate PCT threshold for antibiotic treatment decision-making.</p>