title: Procalcitonin and severity of community-acquired pneumonia.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between procalcitonin and the severity and prognosis of community-acquired pneumonia. The subjects were 162 patients with community-acquired pneumonia (disease severity, mild, 39 patients; moderate, 81 patients; severe, 37 patients; and super severe, 5 patients) in whom we examined the serum procalcitonin concentration at the start of treatment; we determined the relationship of procalcitonin status with disease severity and prognosis. The results showed that procalcitonin was positive in 12.8% of the patients with mild disease, 27.1% of the patients with moderate disease, 59.5% of the patients with severe disease, and 80.0% of the patients with super severe disease. The mortality of procalcitonin-positive patients was 37.7%, whereas that of the procalcitonin-negative patients was 12.8%. Based on the above findings, it is concluded that the more severe the community-acquired pneumonia, the higher is the positivity rate for procalcitonin, and the prognosis in procalcitonin-positive patients is worse than that in procalcitonin-negative patients.
authors.affiliation: Center of Respiratory Diseases, Kawasaki Medical School Kawasaki Hospital, 2-1-80 Nakasange, Kitaku, Okayama, 700-8505, Japan. n.okimoto@kawasaki-hp.jp
authors.forename: Niro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okimoto
authors.forename: Yoshikiyo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Mitsunori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishiga
authors.forename: Fumiyo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nanba
authors.forename: Michihiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kishimoto
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: Takeyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Asaoka
authors.forename: Sadao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tamada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: C000606589:CALCA protein, human; D011498:Protein Precursors; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide