چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:Point of care testing for C-reactive protein (CRP) hasshownpromiseasameasuretoreduceunnecessary
antibiotic prescribing in respiratory tract infections (RTI), but its use in primary care is still controversial. We aimed to
evaluate the effect of CRP testing on the prescription of antibiotics, referral for radiography, and the outcome of patients
in general practice with acute cough/RTI.
Methods:An open-cluster randomized clinical trial was conducted, with CRP testing performed in the intervention group.
Antibiotic prescribing and referral for radiography were the main outcome measures.
Results:A total of 179 patients were included: 101 in the intervention group and 78 in the control group. The two
groups were similar in clinical characteristics. In the intervention group, the antibiotic prescribing rate was 37.6%, which
was significantly lower than that in thecontrol group (58.9%) (P = 0.006). Referral for chest X-ray was also significantly
lower in the intervention group (55.4%) than in the control group (75.6%) (P = 0.004). The recovery rate, as recorded by
the GPs, was 92.9% and 93.6% in the intervention and control groups, respectively.
Conclusion:The study showed that CRP testing in patients with acutecough/RTImayreduceantibioticprescribingand
referral for radiography, probablywithout compromising recovery.
Trial registration:The trial was registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration System (identification number:
NCT01794819).