Biomarkers kinetics in the assessment of ventilator-associated pneumonia response to antibiotics - results from the BioVAP study

Purpose Our aim was to evaluate the role of biomarker kinetics in the assessment of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) response to antibiotics. Materials and methods We performed a prospective, multicenter, observational study to evaluate in 37 microbiologically documented VAP, the kinetics of C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), mid-region fragment of pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM). The kinetics of each variable, from day 1 to 6 of therapy, was assessed with a time dependent analysis comparing survivors and non-survivors. Results During the study period kinetics of CRP as well as its relative changes, CRP-ratio, was significantly different between survivors and non-survivors (p=0.026 and p=0.005, respectively). On day 4 of antibiotic therapy, CRP of survivors was 47% of the initial value while it was 96% in non-survivors. The kinetics of other studied variables did not distinguish between survivors and non-survivors. In survivors the bacterial load also decreased markedly. Adequate initial antibiotic therapy was associated with lower mortality (p=0.025) and faster CRP decrease (p=0.029). Conclusions C-reactive protein kinetics can be used to identify VAP patients with poor outcome as soon as four days after the initiation of treatment. (Trial registration - NCT02078999; registered 3 August 2012).