All new biomarkers were good predictors of short- and long-term all-cause mortality, superior to inflammatory markers, and at least comparable to CRB-65 score. MR-proADM showed the best performance. A combination of CRB-65 with MR-proADM might be the best predictor for mortality.

Increasing worldwide development of antimicrobial resistance and the association of resistance development and antibiotic overuse make it necessary to seek strategies for safely reducing antibiotic use and selection pressure.In a first step, in a non-interventional study, the antibiotic prescription rates, initial procalcitonin (PCT) levels and outcome of 702 patients presenting with acute respiratory infection at 45 primary care physicians were observed. The second part was a randomised controlled non-inferiority trial comparing standard care with PCT-guided antimicrobial treatment in 550 patients in the same setting. Antibiotics were recommended at a PCT threshold of 0.25 ng?mL -1. Clinical overruling was permitted. The primary end-point for non-inferiority was number of days with significant health impairment after 14 days.Antibiotics were prescribed in 30.3% of enrolled patients in the non-interventional study. In the interventional study, 36.7% of patients in the control group received antibiotics as compared to 21.5% in the PCT-guided group (41.6% reduction). In the modified intention-to-treat analysis, the numbers of days with significant health impairment were similar (mean 9.04 versus 9.00 for PCTguided and control group, respectively; difference 0.04; 95% confidence interval -0.73-0.81). This was also true after adjusting for the most important confounders. In the PCT group, advice was overruled in 36 cases. There was no significant difference in primary end-point when comparing the PCT group treated as advised, the overruled PCT group and the control group (9.008 versus 9.250 versus 9.000 days; p50.9605).A simple one-point PCT measurement for guiding decisions on antibiotic treatment is noninferior to standard treatment in terms of safety, and effectively reduced the antibiotic treatment rate by 41.6%.

The BODE (body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnoea, exercise capacity) index is wellvalidated for mortality prediction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Concentrations of plasma pro-adrenomedullin, a surrogate for mature adrenomedullin, independently predicted 2-year mortality among inpatients with COPD exacerbation.We compared accuracy of initial pro-adrenomedullin level, BODE and BODE components, alone or combined, in predicting 1-year or 2-year all-cause mortality in a multicentre, multinational observational cohort with stable, moderate to very severe COPD.Pro-adrenomedullin was significantly associated (p,0.001) with 1-year mortality (4.7%) and 2-year mortality (7.8%) and comparably predictive to BODE regarding both (C statistics 0.691 versus 0.745 and 0.635 versus 0.679, respectively). Relative to using BODE alone, adding pro-adrenomedullin significantly improved 1-year and 2-year mortality prognostication (C statistics 0.750 and 0.818, respectively; both p,0.001). Pro-adrenomedullin plus BOD was more predictive than the original BODE including 6-min walk distance. In multivariable analysis, pro-adrenomedullin (likelihood ratio Chi-squared 13.0, p,0.001), body mass index (8.5, p50.004) and 6-min walk distance (7.5, p50.006) independently foretold 2-year survival, but modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea score (2.2, p50.14) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s % predicted (0.3, p50.60) did not.Pro-adrenomedullin plus BODE better predicts mortality in COPD patients than does BODE alone; proadrenomedullin may substitute for 6-min walk distance in BODE when 6-min walk testing is unavailable. @ERSpublications Pro-adrenomedullin improves BODE prediction of mortality in COPD patients and may substitute for 6-min walk distance http://ow.ly/qV5M3This article has supplementary material available from www.erj.ersjournals.com Clinical trial: This study is registered at www.controlled-trials.com with identifier number ISRCTN99586989.

HypoN is common at admission among CAP patients and is independently associated with mortality. HyperN is rare at admission among CAP patients but is also independently associated with mortality. The combination of sodium and CT-pro-AVP and MR-proANP levels achieved the highest prediction of mortality.

Objectives: Patients presenting to emergency departments (ED) with nonspecific complaints (NSCs) such as ''not feeling well,'' ''feeling weak,'' ''being tired,'' ''general deterioration,'' or other similar chief complaints that do not have a readily identifiable probable etiology are a common patient group at risk for adverse outcomes. Certain biomarkers, which have not yet been tested for prognostic value when applied to ED patients with NSCs, have emerged as useful tools for predicting prognosis in patients with a variety of diseases. This study tested the hypothesis that two of these novel markers, copeptin (a C-terminal portion of provasopressin) and ⁄ or peroxiredoxin-4 (Prx4), an enzyme that degrades hydrogen peroxide, singly or together are helpful in predicting death in the near term among patients presenting to the ED with NSCs.Methods: The Basel Non-specific Complaints (BANC) study is a delayed type cross-sectional diagnostic study with a prospective 30-day follow-up. ED patients with NSCs were consecutively enrolled. Patients with vital parameters out of the normal range were excluded. The primary endpoint of this study was the predictive value of copeptin and Prx4 for 30-day mortality in patients with NSCs. Measurement of both copeptin and Prx4 was performed in serum samples with sandwich immunoluminometric assays. Conclusions: Copeptin and Prx4 are new prognostic markers in patients presenting to the ED with NSCs. Copeptin and Prx4 might be valuable tools for risk stratification and decision-making in this patient group.