The clinical significance of detecting serum PCT and HsCRP level on the diagnosis of unknown feverin childeren

Objective To evaluate the value of serum procalcitonin(PCT) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein(HsCRP) analysis in the differentiation of fever of unknown cause in children. Methods Information from 172 patients was retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into bacterial infection group(88),non-bacterial infection group(61),non-infection group(23) and the control group(42). The levels of PCT and HsCRP were measured. Results The level of PCT in the bacterial infection group(2.14±1.01) μg / L was higher than the non-bacterial infection group [(0.09 ±0.15)μg / L,P 0.05],non-infection group [(0.15 ±0.12)μg / L,P 0.05] and the control group [(0.08 ±0.05) μg / L,P0.05]. The level of HsCRP level in the bacterial infection group(38.2±10.1)μg / L was higher than the nonbacterial infection group [(2.60±1.58)μg / L,P0.05],non-infection group [(15.3±10.2)μg / L,P0.05]and the control group [(5.0±1.1)μg / L,P0.05]. There was no significant difference in the serum PCT level among the non-bacterial infection,non-infection and control group(P 0.05). If the positive threshold of diagnosing bacterial infection was defined as ≥0.5 g / L of PCT,the sensitivity and specificity was 77.3% and 94.0%,respectively. If it was defined as ≥ 5 mg / L of HsCRP,the sensitivity and specificity was 81.8% and 50%,respectively.The specificity of PCT for diagnosing bacterial infection was significantly higher than CRP(P0.05). Conclusion Detecting serum PCT and HsCRP has an important value over HsCRP in the diagnosis of the unknown fever in children.