Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: N/A
Brief Summary: Objective: To evaluate PCT as a marker of bacterial community acquired pneumonia in a Danish Hospital setting. To test if it is possible to reduce the use of antibiotics and the length of stay in hospital, and the willingness of the clinicians to take this new marker under advisement in their choice of treatment.

The study is a randomised, controlled intervention study. All adult patients admitted to the Department of Infectious Disease at Skejby hospital suspected of a lower respiratory tract infection (e.g. CAP, acute exacerbation of COPD and bronchitis) are eligible for inclusion. Patients are randomised to have either PCT guided treatment or standard care, in which case the doctor will not learn the PCT test result. In the PCT group the antibiotic treatment will be based on serum PCT as follows: If PCT is less than 0.25 µg/L antibiotic treatment is discouraged; if PCT is greater than 0.25 µg/L antibiotic treatment is encouraged and if PCT is greater than 0.5 µg/L antibiotic treatment is strongly encouraged. The treating doctor is allowed to overrule the treatment guidelines. The control group will receive antibiotics according to usual practice.

The primary endpoints are antibiotic use and length of stay in hospital. Secondary endpoint is the proportion of patients where the treating doctor chooses to disregard the guidelines.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

* suspected lower respiratory tract infection
* must be able to give consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* age under 18 years
* not able to give consent
* admitted not primarily because of the respiratory tract infection
* hospital acquired infections
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18 years or older
* Informed consent
* Respiratory tract infection based on the clinical judgement of the primary care physician

Exclusion Criteria:

* Antibiotic pretreatment in previous 14 days
* Portal hypertension
* Major surgeries or multiple trauma which require hospitalization, in previous 4 weeks
* Autoimmune disease and systemic diseases (lupus erythematodes, wegener´s disease)
* Peritoneal dialysis
* Acute treated or recently operated medullary c-cell-carcinoma, SCLC, carcinoid
* Other inflammatory diseases (e.g. urinary tract infection, pyelonephritis, pancreatitis
C: FAMILY PHYSICIANS:

Inclusion Criteria:

* All FP (teachers and residents) providing care in the walk-in clinic in each Family Practice Teaching Unit (FPTU) will be eligible to participate in the trial.

Exclusion Criteria:

* he/she was involved or participated in the DECISION + pilot RCT
* he/she is not expected to be practicing at the FPTU for the whole duration of the study (e.g. residents ending their residency program or doing rotations outside of the FPTU, planned pregnancy/delivery, planned retirement).

PATIENTS:

Inclusion Criteria:

* if 17 years old and under, must be accompanied by a parents or a guardians)
* they are consulting a participating physician for an ARI, for which treatment with an antibiotic is considered
* they are able (patients or the accompanying parent or guardians) to read, understand and write French (expected level: 8th grade)
* they give informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients with a condition requiring emergency care will be excluded.
D: Inclusion Criteria:

* healthy adults (≥ 18 years of age)
* non-pregnant
* free of any respiratory tract infection
* not having been administered any antibiotic at least in the past three months

Exclusion Criteria:

* \<18 years of age
* pregnant
* having a respiratory tract infection
* having been administered any antibiotic at least in the past three months

Answer: A