BATCH: Biomarker-guided duration of Antibiotic Treatment in Children Hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection

Procalcitonin-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection in the UK (BATCH): a pragmatic, multicentre, open-label, two-arm, individually randomised, controlled trial (2025)
Journal Article
Waldron, C.-A., Pallmann, P., Schoenbuchner, S., Harris, D., Brookes-Howell, L., Mateus, C., Bernatoniene, J., Cathie, K., Faust, S. N., Hinds, L., Hood, K., Huang, C., Jones, S., Kotecha, S., Nabwera, H. M., Patel, S., Paulus, S. C., Powell, C. V. E., Preston, J., Xiang, H., …on behalf of the BATCH Trial Team. (2025). Procalcitonin-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection in the UK (BATCH): a pragmatic, multicentre, open-label, two-arm, individually randomised, controlled trial. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 9(2), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642%2824%2900306-7

Background
Procalcitonin is a rapid response biomarker specific for bacterial infection, which is not routinely used in the UK National Health Service. We aimed to assess whether using a procalcitonin-guided algorithm would safely reduce the duratio... Read More about Procalcitonin-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection in the UK (BATCH): a pragmatic, multicentre, open-label, two-arm, individually randomised, controlled trial.

Biomarker-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection: statistical analysis plan for the BATCH trial and PRECISE sub-study (2023)
Journal Article
Schoenbuchner, S. M., Huang, C., Waldron, C. A., Thomas-Jones, E., Hood, K., Carrol, E. D., & Pallmann, P. (2023). Biomarker-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection: statistical analysis plan for the BATCH trial and PRECISE sub-study. Trials, 24(1), Article 364. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-022-06956-9

Introduction: The BATCH trial is a multi-centre randomised controlled trial to compare procalcitonin-guided management of severe bacterial infection in children with current management. PRECISE is a mechanistic sub-study embedded into the BATCH trial... Read More about Biomarker-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection: statistical analysis plan for the BATCH trial and PRECISE sub-study.

Biomarker-guided duration of Antibiotic Treatment in Children Hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection (BATCH): Protocol for a randomised controlled trial (2022)
Journal Article
Waldron, C. A., Thomas-Jones, E., Bernatoniene, J., Brookes-Howell, L., Faust, S. N., Faust, S. N., Harris, D., Hinds, L., Hood, K., Huang, C., Mateus, C., Pallmann, P., Patel, S., Paulus, S., Peak, M., Powell, C., Preston, J., & Carrol, E. D. (2022). Biomarker-guided duration of Antibiotic Treatment in Children Hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection (BATCH): Protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ open, 12(1), Article e047490. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047490

Introduction Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker more specific for bacterial infection and responds quicker than other commonly used biomarkers such as C reactive protein, but is not routinely used in the National Health Service (NHS). Studies mainly... Read More about Biomarker-guided duration of Antibiotic Treatment in Children Hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection (BATCH): Protocol for a randomised controlled trial.