Umbilical cord blood serum procalcitonin concentration in the diagnosis of early neonatal infection.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate serum procalcitonin concentration in umbilical cord blood for diagnosis of intrauterine bacterial infection.


METHODS
A prospective study was conducted between 2000 and 2001. Serum procalcitonin concentrations were evaluated in 187 umbilical cord blood samples. Five groups have been defined: controls A (n=37), full-term noninfected B1 (n=80) and infected neonates B2 (n=8), preterm noninfected C1 (n=38) and infected C2 (n=24) newborns. An immunoluminometric assay was used to determine procalcitonin concentration. The Mann-Whitney U-test and Spearman's correlation ratio were applied. The sensitivity and specificity, the positive and negative predictive values, and the area under receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated.


RESULTS
A statistically higher serum procalcitonin concentration was found in the preterm infected group (p<0.005; C2 vs A and C1).


CONCLUSIONS
Serum procalcitonin concentration in umbilical cord blood may be a useful parameter in the diagnosis of early neonatal infection.
Kordek
Agnieszka
A
Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology, Pomeranian Academy of Medicine, Szczecin, Poland.
Giedrys-Kalemba
Stefania
S
Pawlus
Beata
B
Podraza
Wojciech
W
Czajka
Ryszard
R
D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry*; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D013292:Streptococcus agalactiae
C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide