Abstract:

Objective To investigate the role of serum procalcitonin （PCT） and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein（hs-CRP） combined determination in the diagnosis and treatment of neonatal septicemia. Methods A total of 156 patients with neonatal septicemia and 245 control neonates were enrolled. There were 88 cases of ≤3 d and 68 cases of 4-28 d in septicemia group. There were 162 cases of ≤3 d and 83 cases of 4-28 d in control group,and the cases in control group had respiratory distress syndrome and neonatal asphyxia. According to preset periods,the blood samples were collected for PCT and hs-CRP determinations,blood culturing and blood routine test,and the data were analyzed statistically. Results The results of blood culturing were as gold standard. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, negative predictive values and Youden indices of PCT determination were 94.3%,39.5%,45.9%,92.7%,0.34 for ≤3 d group and 85.3%,86.7%,84.1%,87.8%,0.72 for 4-28 d group, respectively. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, negative predictive values and Youden indices of hs-CRP determination were 85.2%,83.3%,73.5%,91.2%,0.69 for ≤3 d group and 83.8%,83.1%,80.3%,86.2%,0.67 for 4-28 d group, respectively. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, negative predictive values and Youden indices of PCT and hs-CRP combined determination were 80.7%,90.1%,81.6%,89.6%,0.71 for ≤3 d group and 77.9%,90.4%,86.9%,83.3%,0.72 for 4-28 d group, respectively. Conclusions The combined determination of PCT and hs-CRP can improve the diagnosis of neonatal septicemia.

Key words: Procalcitonin, High-sensitivity C-reactive protein, Neonate, Septicemia