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

Effectiveness of biomarker-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection: the BATCH RCT (2025)
Journal Article
Waldron, C.-A., Pallmann, P., Schoenbuchner, S., Harris, D., Brookes-Howell, L., Mateus, C., Bernatoniene, J., Cathie, K., Faust, S. N., Henley, J., Hinds, L., Hood, K., Huang, C., Jones, S., Kotecha, S., Milosevic, S., Nabwera, H., Patel, S., Paulus, S., Powell, C. V., …Carrol, E. D. (in press). Effectiveness of biomarker-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection: the BATCH RCT. Health Technology Assessment, 29(16), https://doi.org/10.3310/mbva3675

Background
Procalcitonin is a biomarker specific for bacterial infection, with a more rapid response than other commonly used biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein, but it is not routinely used in the National Health Service.

Objective
To deter... Read More about Effectiveness of biomarker-guided duration of antibiotic treatment in children hospitalised with confirmed or suspected bacterial infection: the BATCH RCT.

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.