Study On C-Reactive Protein And Procalcitonin Levels In Neonatal Sepsis

Abstract

Background: In newborn infants, neonatal sepsis is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality. There are two different patterns of the disease associated with neonatal sepsis, which start to appear, early- onset (<7 days of birth) and late-onset (>7 days). Identifying the symptoms and diagnosing it early and subsequent treatment of systemic bacterial infection by anti-biotics is very important in neonate and infants, to prevent mortality, since a delay in treatment of severe bacterial infection may not lead to a proper outcome and essential for preventing the possibilities of antibiotics resistance from the use of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions Aim and Objectives: To estimate and compare the concentration of CRP and PCT in neonatal sepsis and normal neonates and to evaluate the diagnostic value of PCT in neonatal sepsis. Materials and Methods: The study was a prospective hospital based type undertaken among the 87 neonates who were admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) at our tertiary care hospital. We measured c-reactive protein and procalcitonin levels in all the neonates included in our study. Discussion and Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that the sensitivity of procalcitonin (76%) was higher than CRP (57%) for the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis and PCT appears to be a useful marker for the severity of infection. The findings of our study support the important role of the PCT to support an early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Results from this study indicates that any increase in PCT in an ill neonate suggests the possibility of a septicemic infection. However, PCT is not sufficiently reliable to be the sole marker of neonatal sepsis and would be useful as part of a full sepsis evaluation. A negative PCT test finding is not exclusively sufficient to rule out sepsis, but needs to be evaluated further. PCT also has very high advantages where prediction of severity and mortality is concerned.