Clinical significance of serum procaleitonin and C-reactive protein testing for pneumonia

Objective To investigate serum procalcitonin(PCT)and C-reactive protein(CRP)and clinical significance of changes in children with pneumonia. Methods 123 cases of childhood pneumonia included 48 cases of bacterial infection, mycoplasma infection in 36 cases,39 cases with viral infections,40 cases of physical healthy children were selected as the control group. They were measured in serum PCT and CRP content of the correlation between test results and analysis of clinical final diagnosis. Results The level of PCT in Bacterial pneumonia group, Mycoplasma pneumonia group and viral pneumonia group were(5.80±1.92)μg/L,(0.45± 0.15)μg/L and(0.32±0.17)μg/L, respectively, significantly higher than control group(0.19±0.10)μg/L(t= 5.37,3.41,1.23,all P<0.05); the level of CRP in Bacterial pneumonia group,mycoplasma pneumonia group and viral pneumonia group were(45.34±13.35)mg/L,(28.63±11.37)mg/L and(8.19±2.07)mg/L,respectively,significantly higher than control group(3.85±1.31)mg/L(t=5.37,3.41,1.23,all P<0.05);serum PCT sensitivity to detect pneumonia children, specificity and the positive predictive were 93.56%,82.35%and 69.25%, respectively, higher than serum CRP diagnosis of pneumonia sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive (χ2=4.41,5.83 and 7.62,respectively,all P<0.05). Conclusion Serum PCT and CRP measurement can be used as an auxiliary to identify indicators of childhood pneumonia, the diagnosis of pneumonia in children has important clinical significance. Key words: Pneumonia; Procaleitonin; C-reactive protein; Child