title: How to choose the duration of antibiotic therapy in patients with pneumonia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The appropriate duration of antimicrobial treatment in patients with pneumonia remains a matter of controversy. The purpose of this article is to review different approaches that have been used to determine the duration of antimicrobial therapy mainly driven either by the antibiotic chosen, isolated pathogen, host characteristics, or severity of the disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When considered individually, every approach has strengths and weaknesses. Targeting the duration of antibiotic therapy based on a single biomarker, such as procalcitonin, is a promising approach that showed a reduction in antibiotic exposure in different settings, diseases, and study populations. Furthermore, an individualized approach according to time to reach clinical stability takes into account all the previous cited factors and may be another feasible and effective strategy to determine the most appropriate duration of the antibiotic therapy in patients with pneumonia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A shorter duration of antibiotic course based on response to treatment may be favorable in patients with pneumonia due to a potential reduction of adverse events and antibiotic resistance, the opportunity to enhance patients' compliance and to decrease healthcare costs.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Health Science, University of Milan Bicocca, Clinica Pneumologica, AO San Gerardo, Monza bDepartment of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, IRCCS Fondazione Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy cDivision of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aliberti
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Blasi
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents