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Evidence summaries

Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) as an Adjunct to Antibiotics for Pneumonia in Adults

The routine use of G-CSF appears to be unuseful in the treatment of pneumonia. Level of evidence: "B"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 6 studies with a total of 2 018 subjects. All studies met the definitions of community-acquired pneumonia and confirmed hospital-acquired pneumonia where indicated. Patients in two studies included patients with severe sepsis. The use of G-CSF was not associated with improved 28-day mortality (pooled OR 0.81; 95% CI: 0.52 to 1.27). G-CSF use appeared to be safe with no increase in the incidence of total serious adverse events (pooled OR 0.91; 95% CI: 0.73 to 1.14) or organ dysfunction.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by inconsistency (heterogeneity present between the study populations).

    References

    • Cheng AC, Stephens DP, Currie BJ. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) as an adjunct to antibiotics in the treatment of pneumonia in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2007 Apr 18;(2):CD004400. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords