Assessment of C-reactive protein, procalcitonin and interlukin-6 as diagnostic aid for neonatal infections at a tertiary care center

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Neonatal infections are the leading cause of mortality among neonates after prematurity. The importance determining biological markers to be used as a diagnostic test to detect neonatal infections the in early stage of the disease is a challenge. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness & sensitivity of various serological markers such as serum Procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and chemokine IL-6 for diagnosis of neonatal infections leading to sepsis in new born infants. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among newborns admitted in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and meeting the selection criteria. Samples were collected for blood culture and ELISA was performed for detection of CRP, PCT & IL-6. Results: A total of 300 newborns were included in this study from NICU of which 132 (44%) neonates was found to be blood culture positive. The most frequently isolated organisms were Klebsiella pneumoniae (26.5%), followed by Candida albicans (18.1%). In case of confirmed neonatal sepsis, significant higher levels of CRP, PCT and IL-6 were detected than in cases of probable sepsis. Serum procalcitonin levels exhibit highest sensitivity and specificity as 65.91% and 91.67% respectively. Conclusion: Serum procalcitonin has better diagnostic utility in terms of biological marker for the diagnosis of neonatal infections than C-reactive protein and Interleukin-6.