Feasibility of using C-reactive protein for point-of-care testing

Abstract

BACKGROUND: C-reactive protein (CRP) point-of-care testing (POCT) can be a valuable tool for decision making in primary care. Very few studies have illustrated the utilization of CRP POCT. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review on the use of CRP POCT in primary care settings and to examine its feasibility and acceptability in an outpatient primary care setting. METHODS: The search was conducted via PubMed. Final articles in the systematic review met inclusion and exclusion criteria. For the feasibility and acceptability analysis, a convenience sample of 20 adult subjects was enrolled and CRP POCT was conducted. RESULTS: Antibiotic prescription was the most predominant outcome assessed, and antibiotic prescription reduction was the most common finding of CRP POCT effectiveness testing. CONCLUSION: CRP POCT can be used to detect inflammation and can reduce antibiotic prescription in primary care. It is a satisfactory procedure that should be available in the primary care setting.

Point-of-Care C-Reactive Protein Testing to Reduce Antibiotic Prescribing for Respiratory Tract Infections in Primary Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials

“…After full-text evaluation, 152 publications were relevant for POCT. After excluding 34 publications [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ] ( Supplementary Materials ), 13 studies [ 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ] reported across 22 publications [ 61 , 62 , 63 …”

Profile of C-reactive protein, white cells and neutrophil populations in febrile children from rural north-eastern Tanzania

“…CRP marker could be a useful predictive tool in assisting diagnosis of probable bacterial aetiology causing febrile infections. Analysis using CRP rapid diagnostic test have shown to be cost effective and more easily accessible than blood culturing for prompt and appropriate antimicrobial treatment among paediatrics in countries with limited microbiology facilities [41, 42]. Over half of patients in the study had fever lasting 24 to 48 hours.…”

HLA-G Expression and Regulation During Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Infection in Cystic Fibrosis Patients

“…antibacterial therapy to levels that are indistinguishable from healthy controls. Interesting, the increased HLA-G in a subgroup of patients with CF was inversely related to levels of CRP, a biomarker of systemic inflammation [26]. An impact of the role of HLA-G molecules in immune-regulation, for example in the creation of a tolerogenic environment at the maternal-fetal interface [15] and in transplanted patients [16,30], has been already suggested.…”

“…The i.v. treatment improved FEV1 values (≥ 5% positive increase of FEV1, Table 2) while the acute phase reaction pentraxin C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation-related biomarker [26], was drastically reduced ( Table 2). Interesting, variations of CRP plasma levels were inversely correlated to sHLA-G in 30% of CF patients (Spearman Correlation r=-0.307; P=0.032), while no significant correlations were observed with FEV1 values and the outcome of microbial infections (data not shown).…”