Table 1.
Characteristics of studies included
| Study author | Country (centers) | Sample size (female% in PCT/control arm) | Clinical setting | Patient population | Age a in PCT/control arm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyriazopoulou et al., [30] | Greece (7) | 256 (59/54) | ICU b | Medical patients with sepsis | 80 ± 10 / 78 ± 13 |
| Ali et al., [32] | Egypt (1) | 60 (43/47) | ICU | Patients with sepsis | 57 ± 1 / 56 ± 2 |
| Vishalashi et al., [31] | India (1) | 90 (51/36) | ICU | Medical/surgical (41/59%) patients with sepsis | 42 ± 17 / 47 ± 16 |
| Labro et al., [33] | France (5) | 159 (35/47) | ICU | Mechanically ventilated medical patients with coma | 54 ± 18 / 52 ± 17 |
| Lhopitallier et al., [54] | France (60) | 469 (65/53) | primary care | Medical patients with pneumonia | 53 ± 18 / 50 ± 18 |
| Mazlan et al., [34] | Malaysia (1) | 85 (37/55) | ICU | Medical patients with VAP | 49 ± 17 / 53 ± 17 |
| Jeon et al., [35] | South-Korea (4) | 52 (67/52) | ICU | Medical patients with sepsis | 69 (61–75) / 70 (63–77) |
| Montassier et al., [56] | France (12) | 285 (44/38) | ED | Medical patients with CAP | 67 (46–83) / 67 (47–81) |
| O'Riordan et al., [55] | Ireland (1) | 119 (39/58) | respiratory ward | Medical patients with LRTI | 69 ± 14 / 68 ± 15 |
| Daubin et al., [36] | France (11) | 302 (29/34) | ICU | Medical patients with AECOPD | 67 (61–76) / 67 (61–75) |
| Kip et al.,c [37] | Netherlands (15) | 1546 (39/40) | ICU | Medical patients with sepsis | 65 (54–75) / 65 (57–75) |
| van der Does et al., [58] | Netherlands (2) | 551 (48/44) | ED | Medical patients with fever | 61 (43–70) / 62 (44–73) |
| Huang et al., [57] | USA (14) | 1656 (57/57) | ED | Medical patients with LRTI | 53 ± 18 / 53 ± 19 |
| Liu et al., [38] | China (1) | 98 (45/41) | ICU | Patients with sepsis | 66 ± 9 / 65 ± 10 |
| Xu et al., [16] | China (1) | 156 (43/43) | ICU | Patients with sepsis | 67 ± 9 / 65 ± 9 |
| Slieker et al., [60] | Switzerland (1) | 162 (42/43) | Surgical ward /ICU (88/12%) | Surgical patients with peritonitis | 56 [36-73] / 57 [36-71] |
| Mahmutaj et al., [59] | Kosovo (1) | 100 (32/38) | surgical ward | Surgical patients with acute abdomen | 39 ± 20 / 47 ± 19 |
| Ulm et al., [61] | Germany (10) | 227 (54/57) | neurology ward | Medical patients after ACM stroke | 76 ± 12 / 76 ± 11 |
| Corti et al., [62] | Denmark (1) | 120 (66/55) | ED | Medical patients with AECOPD | 72 (64–80) / 73 (61–78) |
| Bloos et al., [39] | Germany (33) | 1089 (NA) | ICU | Medical/surgical (43/57%) patients with sepsis | NA |
| de Jong et al., [40] | Netherlands (15) | 1546 (39/40) | ICU | Medical patients with sepsis | 65 (54–75) / 65 (57–75) |
| Lima et al., [63] | Brazil (1) | 61 (44/52) | Hematology ward | Medical patients with febrile neutropenia (FN) | 36 (26–53.8) / 33 (26.50) |
| Branche et al., 2015 [64] | USA (1) | 150 (58/54) | General ward | Medical patients with non-pneumonic LRTI | 61 (51–72) / 64 (50–74) |
| Drozdov et al., [65] | Switzerland (1) | 125 (70/81) | ED | Medical patients with non-catheter-related UTI | 71 (44–81) / 75 (51–80) |
| Verduri et al., [66] | Italy (18) | 178 (13/14) | Respiratory ward | Medical patients with AECOPD | 74 (69–78) / 73 (65–78) |
| Najafi et al., [41] | Iran (1) | 60 (33/40) | ICU | Medical/surgical (88/12%) patients with SIRS | 40 ± 18 / 41 ± 21 |
| Ogasawara et al., [67] | Japan (1) | 96 (55/46) | Respiratory ward | Medical patients with aspiration pneumonia | 85 (81–92) / 87 (85–89) |
| Shehabi et al., [42] | Australia (11) | 394 (53/40) | ICU | Medical surgical patients (88/12%) with suspected bacterial infection | 63 ± 15 / 66 ± 16 |
| Oliveira et al., [43] | Brazil (2) | 94 (49/42) | ICU | Medical/surgical patients (86/14%) with severe sepsis or septic shock | 60 ± 13 / 60 ± 19 |
| Annane et al., [44] | France (8) | 58 (20/32) | ICU | Medical/surgical patients (97/3%) with suspected sepsis | 59 (40–67) / 54 (46–73) |
| Deliberato et al., [45] | Brazil (1) | 81 (43/46) | ICU | Patients with sepsis | 68 ± 21 / 62 ± 19 |
| Tang et al., [68] | China (1) | 260 (50/54) | ED | Medical patients with acute exacerbation of asthma | 54 ± 14 / 55 ± 15 |
| Layios et al., [46] | Belgium (1) | 509 (48/39) | ICU | Medical/surgical patients (60/40%) with suspected sepsis | 66 (55–76) / 65 (53–75) |
| Qu et al., [47] | China (1) | 71 (29/28) | ICU | Medical patients with acute pancreatitis | 43 ± 11 / 44 ± 11 |
| Jensen et al., [48] | Denmark (9) | 1200 (65/64) | ICU | Medical/surgical patients (59/41%) with sepsis | 67 (58–76) / 67 (58–75) |
| Long et al., [69] | Japan (1) | 162 (40/38) | ED | Medical patients with CAP | 44 ± 16 / 47 ± 19 |
| Maravić-Stojković et al., [49] | Serbia (1) | 205 (30/33) | ICU | Patients after open heart cardiac surgery | 60 ± 9 / 60 ± 10 |
| Burkhardt et al., [70] | Germany (15) | 550 (60/59) | Primary care | Medical patients with respiratory tract infection | 41 ± 15 / 43 ± 16 |
| Bouadma et al., [10] | France (7) | 621 (33/35) | ICU | Medical/surgical patients (89/11%) with suspected bacterial infection | 61 ± 15.2 / 62 ± 15 |
| Stolz et al., [50] | Switzerland, USA (7) | 101 (25/26) | ICU | Medical/surgical (52.5/47.5%) patients with VAP | 53 [21–88] / 59 (18–83) |
| Kristoffersen et al., [71] | Denmark (3) | 210 (48/46) | General ward | Medical patients with suspected LRTI | 67 ± 18 / 67 ± 16 |
| Hochreiter et al., [51] | Germany (1) | 110 (49/ 46) | ICU | Surgical patients with sepsis | 67 ± 14 / 67 ± 16 |
| Schuetz et al., [72] | Switzerland (6) | 1359 (40/45) | ED | Medical patients with LRTI | 73 (59–82) / 72 (59–82) |
| Briel et al., [73] | Switzerland (53) | 458 (58/62) | Primary care | Medical patients with respiratory tract infection | 48 ± 18 / 48 ± 18 |
| Schroeder et al., [52] | Germany (1) | 27 (43/46) | ICU | Surgical patients with severe sepsis | 69 ± 11 / 68 ± 14 |
| Nobre et al., [53] | Switzerland (1) | 68 (32/32) | ICU | Medical/surgical (75/25%) patients with sepsis | 64 ± 12 / 70 ± 14 |
| Stolz et al., [74] | Switzerland (1) | 208 (51/59) | ED | Medical patients with AECOPD | 70 (65–77) / 70 (65–79) |
| Christ-Crain et al., [75] | Switzerland (1) | 302 (38/38) | ED | Medical patients with CAP | 70 ± 17 / 70 ± 17 |
| Christ-Crain et al., [76] | Switzerland (1) | 243 (46/49) | ED | Medical patients with LRTI | 63 ± 20 / 65 ± 17 |
a presented as mean ± SD, median (IQR), median [range], b patients treated on wards under advanced supportive care because shortage of ICU beds, c cost-effectiveness analysis of de Jong et al., 2016; abbreviations: AECOPD—acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, CAP—community acquired pneumonia, ED—emergency department, ICU—intensive care unit, LRTI—lower respiratory tract infection, NA—not available, UTI—urinary tract infection, VAP—ventilator-associated pneumonia