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Evaluation of Diagnostic Value of Procalcitonin as a Marker of Neonatal Bacterial Infections
Monsef, Alireza & Eghbalian, Fatemeh
Abstract
Objective: This study tried to assess sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of
procalcitonin for diagnosis of neonatal bacterial infections.
Methods: This prospective cross sectional study was carried out during an 18-month period in NICU and
neonatal wards of Besat Hospital in Hamedan province, Iran. 39 symptomatic infants with clinical and
laboratory findings in favor of bacterial infection with a positive blood, CSF, and/or supra pubic urine culture
entered the study; 32 newborns without any bacterial infection served as control group. Quantitative
procalcitonin level ≥0.5 ng/ml was accepted as pathological. Finally sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and
negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated for procalcitonin test.
Findings: 20 blood cultures, 17 urine cultures and 8 CSF cultures were positive. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV
and NPV for procalcitonin test was 76.9%, 100%, 100% and 78% respectively. Diagnostic value of
procalcitonin test in accordance with blood culture for mentioned items was 85%, 100%, 100% and 91.4%
respectively. Its diagnostic value according to urine culture was: sensitivity 70.6%, specificity 100%, PPV
100% and NPV 86.4%, and according to CSF culture was: sensitivity 75%, specificity 100%, PPV 100% and
NPV 94.1% respectively.
Conclusion: The results show that the procalcitonin test has high sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for
diagnosis of neonatal infections.
Keywords
Infection; Newborn; Procalcitonin; Sensitivity; Specificity; Predictive Value of Tests
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