{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]],"date-time":"2026-07-13T10:19:37Z","timestamp":1783937977858,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Walter de Gruyter GmbH","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Objectives<\/jats:title>\n The aim of the study was to assess requesting patterns of procalcitonin in adult patients presenting at the Emergency Department (ED), evaluate usefulness of the obtained result on clinical decision-making process in terms of antibiotic prescriptions and determine its diagnostic accuracy for sepsis diagnosis.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n Categories of patients in whom procalcitonin was requested were based on clinical, imaging and laboratory data, and were classified as follows: uncertain cause of fever in patients without major comorbidities, with cancer, in immunosupressed patients, evaluation of disease severity when infection is evident and unclear reason for testing. Usefulness of procalcitonin determination was evaluated by two senior physicians according to all available clinical data. Impact of procalcitonin results on decision-making process was assessed by analysis of antibiotic prescriptions. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of procalcitonin for sepsis diagnosis were determined at the cut-off of 2.0\u202f\u03bcg\/L.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n Procalcitonin is mostly ordered due to unexplained fever, but in one third of patients is ordered with evident infection or for unclear reason. Procalcitonin was considered useful in 25\u202f% of patients, regardless of the reason for determination (p=0.688). Patients were equally likely to receive antibiotic treatment, regardless of procalcitonin concentrations (p=0.846). Procalcitonin revealed 35\u202f% sensitivity and 84\u202f% specificity for sepsis diagnosis.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n Despite frequent ordering of procalcitonin in patients with fever at the ED, the obtained result is not a decisive factor for further patient management. Procalcitonin alone has limited ability in distinguishing infectious from non-infectious causes of fever in patients presenting at the\u00a0ED.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1515\/dx-2026-0097","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]],"date-time":"2026-07-13T09:04:08Z","timestamp":1783933448000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Use and usefulness of procalcitonin at the emergency department: a 6-month observational study from the University Hospital Centre Zagreb"],"prefix":"10.1515","author":[{"given":"Domagoj","family":"Sajfert","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department , General Hospital \u2018Dr. Josip Ben\u010devi\u0107\u2019 , Slavonski Brod , Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nika","family":"Raku\u0161a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine , University Hospital Centre Zagreb , Zagreb , Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0854-4526","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivana","family":"Lapi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Diagnostics , University Hospital Centre Zagreb , Zagreb , Croatia"},{"name":"Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb , Zagreb , Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mirna","family":"Alvir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine , University Hospital Centre Zagreb , Zagreb , Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ivan","family":"Gornik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine , University Hospital Centre Zagreb , Zagreb , Croatia"},{"name":"School of Medicine , University of Zagreb , Zagreb , Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"374","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026071310002019798_j_dx-2026-0097_ref_001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Singer, M, Deutschman, CS, Seymour, CW, Shankar-Hari, M, Annane, D, Bauer, M, et al.. The third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA 2016;315:801\u201310. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1001\/jama.2016.0287.","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2016.0287"},{"key":"2026071310002019798_j_dx-2026-0097_ref_002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rezende, E, Silva, JMJr., Isola, AM, Campos, EV, Amendola, CP, Almeida, SL. Epidemiology of severe sepsis in the emergency department and difficulties in the initial assistance. Clinics (Sao Paulo) 2008;63:457\u201364. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1590\/s1807-59322008000400008.","DOI":"10.1590\/S1807-59322008000400008"},{"key":"2026071310002019798_j_dx-2026-0097_ref_003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cowan, SL, Holland, JA, Kane, AD, Frost, I, Boyle, AA. The burden of sepsis in the emergency department: an observational snapshot. Eur J Emerg Med 2015;22:363\u20135. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/mej.0000000000000234.","DOI":"10.1097\/MEJ.0000000000000234"},{"key":"2026071310002019798_j_dx-2026-0097_ref_004","unstructured":"Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. National hospital ambulatory medical care survey: 2022 emergency department summary tables. Available at: https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/data\/nhamcs\/web_tables\/2022-nhamcs-ed-web-tables.pdf [Accessed 2 Apr 2026]."},{"key":"2026071310002019798_j_dx-2026-0097_ref_005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Morr, M, Lukasz, A, R\u00fcbig, E, Pavenst\u00e4dt, H, K\u00fcmpers, P. Sepsis recognition in the emergency department\u00a0\u2013\u00a0impact on quality of care and outcome? 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