Fig. 1.

Utility of MPAs for the medical management of patients diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Patients hospitalized for CAP in the ICU or the pulmonary department between 2011 and 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. (a) The baseline characteristics of study participants are reported in the table. (b) The turnaround times for MPAs are represented as Tukey box-and-whisker plots, by year of analysis. Non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn's multiple comparison tests were used to compare these quantitative variables. (c) The percentages of MPAs yielding positive and negative results are reported. All medical charts reporting positive MPA results for the 2013–2014 period were studied, to address the following two questions: (i) ‘Was the MPA result useful for the final etiological diagnosis?’ We considered the answer to this question to be ‘yes’ if the microorganism identified by the MPA was mentioned in the conclusion of the final medical report for the patient; (ii) ‘Did the MPA result lead to any change in antibiotic treatment?’ We considered the answer to this question to be ‘yes’ if any change in antibiotic treatment due to the MPA result was noted in the patient's medical records. s.d., standard deviation; ICU, intensive care unit; MPA, multiplex PCR assay; #, Comorbid conditions according to hospital discharge database codes linked to the Elixhauser and Charlson comorbidity indices; *, P < 0·05.