Evaluation of diagnostic markers of early onset neonatal sepsis

Abstract EN

Background: Early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis decreases morbidity and mortality in neonates.

Recently, serum procalcitonin (PCT) has been investigated as a new marker for the detection of bacterial infection.

Objectives: to evaluate procalcitonin (PCT) as an early marker of neonatal infections, and to compare procalcitonin with interleukin- 6 (IL- 6), C- reactive protein (CRP), hematological scoring systems (HSS).

Methods: This cross sectional study included 90 neonates divided into three groups: 30 neonates as proved septic group, 30 neonates as suspected septic group and 30 healthy control neonates.

All studied neonates were investigated at age of 1-2 days of life for serum PCT, IL- 6, CRP, hematological score by using HSS.

Results: Serum PCT, IL- 6, CRP were significantly elevated in septic groups in comparison to the control group.

The area under the ROC curve for PCT was 0.97, with specificity of 96.7%, sensitivity of 93.3%.

Negative predictive value of 93.5% positive predictive value of 96.6%, diagnostic efficacy of 95%, which is significantly higher than that of IL- 6 and CRP.

No correlation was found between PCT, IL- 6, CRP.

HSS was not an early tool for diagnosing of neonatal sepsis.

Conclusion: PCT is superior to IL- 6 and CRP in diagnosis of early onset neonatal sepsis