Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the roles of several indicators,including white blood cell （WBC）,neutrophil ratio （NEUT%）,platelet （PLT）,C-reactive protein （CRP）,procalcitonin （PCT）and serum amyloid A （SAA） in the early diagnosis of neonatal severe infection and the assessment of neonatal infection severity. Methods A total of 158 newborns were enrolled. They were classified into severe infection group（53 cases）,local infection group（46 cases）and non-infection group（59 cases）according to clinical diagnosis. WBC,NEUT%,PLT,CRP,PCT and SAA were determined. Receiver operating charateristic （ROC）curve was used to evaluate their roles in the diagnosis of neonatal severe infection. Results The positive rates of WBC,PCT,hs-CRP and SAA had statistical significance in severe infection group,local infection group and non-infection group （P<0.05）. The positive rates of NEUT% and PLT had statistical significance in severe infection group,local infection group and non-infection group （P<0.05）. The positive rate of CRP was higher in severe infection group than those in the other 2 groups （P<0.05）. The levels of PCT and SAA had statistical significance in severe infection,local infection and non-infection groups （P<0.05）. The levels of PLT and CRP had statistical significance between severe infection group and the other 2 groups （P<0.05）. The level of WBC had statistical significance between local infection group and the other 2 groups （P<0.05）. There was no statistical significance for NEUT% among the 3 groups （P>0.05）. ROC curve analysis showed that PCT and CRP had high accuracies in the diagnosis of neonatal severe infection. The areas under curves （AUC） were 0.92 and 0.91. Conclusions WBC,NEUT%,PCT,CRP and SAA play roles in the early diagnosis of neonatal severe infection. The determinations of PCT,hs-CRP,CRP and SAA have clinical significance in the assessment of neonatal infection severity.

Key words: Infection, Newborn, Early diagnosis, Clinical application