Table 3 Meta-analysis of aggregate data
From: Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy in critically ill adults: a meta-analysis
Outcome | Studies | Patients | Effect size OR (CI) | P value | Heterogeneity | Publication bias (P value) | Quality of evidences | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I2 (%) | P value | Begg’s test | Egger’s test | ||||||
Primary endpoints | |||||||||
 28-day mortality | 10 | 5155 | 0.96 (0.82, 1.13) | 0.626 | 19.5 | 0.264 | 0.929 | 0.534 | low |
 Duration of antibiotic therapy for the first episode of infection | 7 | 1566 | -1.83 (−2.51, −1,15) | < 0.001 | 85.8 | 0.000 | - | - | moderate |
 Length of hospitalization | 10 | 3571 | -1.61 (−3.20, 0.01) | 0.049 | 42.2 | 0.077 | 0.180 | 0.778 | moderate |
Second endpoints | |||||||||
 Mortality in hospitalization | 8 | 913 | 0.94 (0.66, 1.32) | 0.815 | 0.0 | 0.970 | - | - | low |
 Total duration of antibiotic therapy | 6 | 1020 | -2.68 (−3.36, −1.73) | < 0.001 | 92.8 | < 0.001 | - | - | moderate |
 Length of ICU stay | 14 | 5385 | −0.33 (−1.09, 0.42) | 0.384 | 54.1 | 0.008 | 0.412 | 0.178 | moderate |
 Recurrences | 7 | 2867 | 1.11 (0.69, 1.79) | 0.676 | 28.3 | 0.212 | - | - | moderate |