Value of serum procalcitionin to the diagnosis and therapy of pneumonia in the elderly patients

Objective To evaluate the value of serum procalitionin to the diagnosis and therapy of pneumonia in the elderly patients.Methods A total of 120 elderly patients with pneumonia were divided into low-risk group(n=38),medium-risk group(n=45) and high-risk group(n=37) according to CURB-65 criteria.And another 40 patients with non-infective bronchial disease were as controls(control group).The serum procalitionin and C-reactive protein levels were detected and were compared before treatment,after treatment for 5 days,and when cured and died.Results Before treatment,serum procalitionin and C-reactive protein levels were higher in pneumonia patients than those in control group(P0.01).After treatment for 5 days,serum procalitionin level decreased significantly in low-risk and medium-risk group(P0.05),and had no significant difference in high-risk group before and after treatment(P0.05).C-reactive protein level was not significant different before treatment from that after treatment for 5 days(P0.05).Conclusion Serum procalitionin plays an important role in the diagnosis and prognosis assessment of pneumonia in the early stage in the elderly patients.The sensitivity of procalitionin is better than that of C-reactive protein.