Introduction
CAP, viral infections, bacterial infections
COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA, BACTERIAL INFECTIONS, VIRAL INFECTION
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of hospitalisation and mortality [Sputum samples can be cultivated to determine bacterial agents; however, samples are often of poor quality, many patients cannot deliver a sample and laboratory turnaround time is typically 2 days [In addition, CAP is often caused by viral infections that can be treated without antibiotics but usually are indistinguishable from bacterial infections without specific microbiological tests [By identifying pathogenic organisms earlier, studies have reported faster de-escalation of antibiotic treatment, reduced duration of broad-spectrum empirical antibiotic therapy, reduced length of stay (LOS), and reduced hospital costs [In this multicentre, randomised study, we aimed to investigate the effect of adding POC-PCR to standard care in an emergency department (ED) setting. Our hypothesis was that POC-PCR testing of sputum samples from suspected CAP patients would increase the proportion of patients treated with no or narrow-spectrum antibiotics. The objectives were (i) to investigate the effect of POC-PCR testing of sputum from suspected CAP patients on the prescriptions of antibiotic treatment compared to usual care; and (ii) to investigate if the addition of POC-PCR testing to the diagnostic setup affects LOS, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, 30-days mortality, in-hospital mortality, or readmissions within 30 days.