Despite various technological advances, it still usually takes at least 24 to 48 h to obtain a blood culture result. The subsequent delays in diagnosis and treatment of infection can negatively impact care in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Biomarkers, such as procalcitonin (PCT), have been suggested as predictors of blood culture positivity in patients with different diseases. However, the performances of PCT, C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in the prediction of blood culture positivity have never been assessed in a general ICU population.

We retrospectively assessed 13,377 consecutive adult ICU patients who did not have chronic kidney disease and who were discharged from a Chinese teaching hospital between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2017.

Read More